Free Republic

TAMPA, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that one person in Hillsborough County has been infected with Naegleria fowleri, a water-borne microscopic single-celled amoeba that attacks the brain. The amoeba can cause a rare infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) which destroys brain tissue and is usually fatal. Infections can happen when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes PAM, according to the DOH. The DOH did not specifically say where in Hillsborough County this latest infection was reported;...

Public officials are in the process of eliminating Naegleria Fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba that thrives in warm water, from another drinking water supply in Louisiana. Naegleria Fowleri was detected during routine tests on Aug. 5 at a utility district in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, roughly 80 miles from New Orleans... According to the local fire department, the Schriever Water System serves approximately 97,000 residents in the Houma area. .. While officials say the water is safe for drinking, residents are urged to use caution with the water, not letting it get into their nose. Humans are infected when water containing the...

<p>STILLWATER, Minn. – Health officials have closed Lily Lake to swimmers until further notice while the Minnesota Department of Health investigates the death of a boy who appears to have died from a rare form of meningitis caused by an amoeba found in warm freshwater.</p>

The third case, in Louisiana, was more unusual. It was a young man whose death in June was traced to the tap water he used in a device called a neti pot. It's a small teapot-shaped container used to rinse out the nose and sinuses with salt water to relieve allergies, colds and sinus trouble. Health officials later found the amoeba in the home's water system. The problem was confined to the house; it wasn't found in city water samples, said Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana's state epidemiologist. The young man, who was only identified as in his 20s and from...

A Kansas resident died this week from what was likely a rare infection by a brain-eating amoeba - the fourth such case in the U.S. this year. State and local officials warned residents to avoid activities in warm rivers, lakes and other bodies of heated, fresh water, including ponds near power plants. Single deaths from such infections also have been reported this summer in Florida, Louisiana and Virginia. ... Naegleria fowleri moves into the body through the nose and destroys brain tissue. It almost always causes meningitis Symptoms of an infection include headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, confusion,...