Florida latest state to report case of brain-eating N. fowleri

Florida is the fourth state since June to report a deadly case of Naegleria fowleri infection.

According to the Florida Department of Health, a person in Broward County has been hospitalized with the so-called “brain-eating amoeba,” and likely contracted the infection while swimming in unsanitary water on private property.

The department said it was in the process of investigating the location and notifying other individuals who may have been exposed.

North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas have all reported fatal cases of N. fowleri infection since June, and the National Park Service said recently that water monitoring at several hot springs in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming showed the presence of the single-cell organism.

Cases of N. fowleri infections are rare and occur mainly in the summer, according to the CDC, but they are fatal more than 97% of the time. N. fowleri is commonly found in warm freshwater and soil. People can be infected if water containing the amoeba travels up their nose, but they cannot be infected by drinking contaminated water. From the nose, N. fowleri travels to the brain, where it causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis, destroying brain tissue.

According to the CDC, there were 37 infections reported in the United States in the 10 years from 2006 to 2015, including 33 cases where people were infected by contaminated recreational water. The other four people were infected by contaminated tap water — three while performing nasal irrigation, and one on a backyard water slide.

Four states have recently reported cases of N. fowleri infection, which causes amebic meningoencephalitis.

Source: CDC/Dr. Visvesvara

“Most every summer we see some infections,” Christopher R. Braden, MD, director of the division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases in the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told Infectious Disease News.

Early symptoms of N. fowleri infection start within 1 to 7 days and include headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. Later, the infection can cause symptoms such as stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations. The CDC says anyone experiencing such symptoms should seek medical care immediately, particularly if they have recent exposure to warm freshwater.

Death usually comes quickly, within 1 to 12 days following infection, according to the CDC. The agency said only three patients out of 138 known to be infected with N. fowleri between 1962 and 2015 survived. – by Gerard Gallagher

Reference:

CDC. Naegleria fowleri – primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) – amebic encephalitis. 2016. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/general.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2016.