Brain-eating amoeba is killing swimmers

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I have been watching and reading about these brain eating amoeba's and this is scary chit to me, this and sink holes.

this from 2011

http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/brain-eating-amoebas-surface-us-lakes-82411

How to prevent being attacked by a brain-eating-amoeba - CBS News Video

THURSDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Miltefosine, a potentially life-saving experimental drug to treat people infected with a rare but deadly brain-eating amoeba, is now available to U.S. doctors directly from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency announced Thursday.

http://news.yahoo.com/brain-eating-amoeba-one-girl-survived-104257491.html

Saving Kali

The CDC provided the doctors with the drug, called miltefosine, through an emergency "Investigational New Drug" request, since the drug is still under investigation and is not approved yet by the FDA.
 
Growing up in central FL pre Disney, swimming in lakes played a big part in my life. I first heard of this in the late 60s when I was in jr high. That was it for me and lakes.

Scarry stuff is right! That press release makes the officials sound pretty casual about this. This water isn't safe for bathing!
 
The top article says it is because the chlorine levels are low. Why are they low? I am guessing they are talking about the water supply to homes. Can't they fix that? I would be terrified to use the water for food, drink, or showers! If they mean the water outside in lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers, ocean, well, they can't fix that, so just stay out of it, away from it, and don't eat fish from it.

I find it terrifying! I do hope everyone in the area is fully informed, and keeps little ones in eyesight and away from the water.

(Sinkholes, one happened beside my apartment building a few years ago. I watched it start as a small rabbit sized hole, in a few days it could consume a trash truck, and did!)
 
21merc7 said:
The top article says it is because the chlorine levels are low. Why are they low? I am guessing they are talking about the water supply to homes. Can't they fix that? I would be terrified to use the water for food, drink, or showers! If they mean the water outside in lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers, ocean, well, they can't fix that, so just stay out of it, away from it, and don't eat fish from it.

I find it terrifying! I do hope everyone in the area is fully informed, and keeps little ones in eyesight and away from the water.

(Sinkholes, one happened beside my apartment building a few years ago. I watched it start as a small rabbit sized hole, in a few days it could consume a trash truck, and did!)
Click to expand...

BBM- They are definitely talking about the water supply to homes, the entire parish supply. From the OP link:

Lane said the parish, along the Gulf Coast southeast of New Orleans, began flushing water lines with chlorine last week, a process that will continue for several weeks until chlorine levels reach recommended levels.
Click to expand...

I would not use this water until the 'recommended levels' have been reached. Who can take a shower without getting water on their face and possibly up the nose? I would think the parish would offer some alternative to residents in the meantime. Truck in safe water or something? If another child/person gets sick with this, the parish could be sued. The warnings should be stronger to me too. The area is so vague. Any local TV and news getting this out to the public?
 
It would be time to bring out the wet wipes and bottled water. That would be very scary to try and bath children knowing deadly parasites are in the water.
 
It is interesting that this brain eating amoeba mostly affects children. I have read it has affected adults, but rarely. It would be interesting to do a study why that is the case.

Naegleria fowleri is more of a protist than amoeba.

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/general.html
 
Did the person who used tap water in a neti pot and got brain infection live in La.? Maybe kids just snort more water further up their noses when bathing or swimming.
 
Elley Mae, thanks...I just couldn't drink that water still; just call me squeamish!

Brain-Eating Amoeba in Louisiana Linked to Hurricane Katrina?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...rd-louisiana-death/?google_editors_picks=true

The concensus is NO to Katrina directly causing it but it may have indirectly affected the water:

People fled St. Bernard Parish after the hurricane, and the town's population shrank from about 67,000 people to about 35,000, Causey said.

The depopulation left a lot of vacant homes and buildings where water just sat in the sun for years.

According to Ratard, studies have shown that summer heat can destroy the residual chlorine that is added to municipal water. Without the chlorine to keep N. fowleri in check, "the amoeba would multiply," he said.

Water samples taken from the child's home and sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for testing contained evidence of N. fowleri contamination.
Click to expand...
 
Kansas health officials are urging swimmers to take extra care in warm freshwater, which could be home to millions of microscopic killers.

A 9-year-old Johnson County girl is the latest victim of Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba that lurks in warm, standing water. The girl died July 9 from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, an extremely rare but almost invariably fatal brain infection.


“We are very saddened to learn of this unfortunate circumstance, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends during this difficult time,” state health officer Dr. Robert Moser said in a statement. “It is important for the public to know that infections like these are extremely rare and there are precautions one can take to lower their risk – such as nose plugs.”

The infection is most common in 15 southern-tier states, “with more than half of all infections occurring in Texas and Florida,” the CDC’s website reads. Three-quarters of all U.S. cases have been linked to swimming in freshwater lakes and rivers, but infections have also been associated with slip-n-slides, bathtubs and neti pots, according to the agency.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/warm-weather-stirs-brain-eating-amoeba-warning/story?id=24552241
 
This is frightening imo. My dh and I visit a few lakes during warmer months...I'm afraid to get in the water now.
 
Just follow the suggestions in the article and you should be just fine.
 
9-year-old girl dies from brain-eating amoeba in water

By Holly Yan and Elizabeth Cohen, CNN

updated 7:47 AM EDT, Tue July 15, 2014

(CNN) -- A brain-eating amoeba that lurks in fresh water has prompted warnings from Kansas officials after it killed a 9-year-old girl.

Hally Yust was an avid water skier and spent the past few weeks swimming in several bodies of fresh water. She died last week from Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating parasite that lives in warm, standing water.

At Hally's funeral Monday, her family wore matching T-shirts with the logo of her water-skiing club, CNN affiliate WDAF said. Relatives honored the young athlete by announcing the Hally Yust Women's Basketball Scholarship at Kansas State University.

"Our precious daughter, Hally, loved life and part of her great joy was spending time playing in the water," her family said in a statement...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/15/health/brain-eating-amoeba/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
 
A brain-eating amoeba has been found in the water supply of the Louisiana Parish of St John the Baptist, which serves over 12,000 people.

The amoeba is called Naegleria Fowleri but, although it can be deadly, it cannot enter the brain through drinking infected water. It can only do that if it gets into the nose.

There have been three deaths in Louisiana since 2011 from the amoeba pathogen, which is almost always fatal. Authorities are cleaning the water with high levels of chlorine.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/brain-eating-amoeba-found-louisiana-water-supply/story
 
Parasite Claims 2 lives; one was a 4yom

A chlorine burn through the water system will start first thing today followed by a 60 day wait to see if the brain eating ameba has been flushed out.

Natalie Robottom, the St. John Parish president states, "The problem is making sure you keep precautions to keep the water from going up your nose."

Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University says, "The amoeba finds itself way back of our noses and then can work its way into our central nervous system around our brains and once it's there, it just causes destruction."

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/...g-ameba-neti-pot-link/20953858/?ncid=webmail2
 
I don't fear much, but brain-eating anything scares the living daylights out of me!
 
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