Victim dies from rare brain infection after visiting Fantasy Lake Water Park water park...

wyff ^ | Stephanie Towers

[Tax-chick]

For those who are wondering where this occurred, it’s North Carolina.

[JacksonCalhoun]

This happened in Charlotte at the whitewater center three years ago. Not that “rare”.

[PAR35]

Happens to folks who swim in ponds (called tanks) in Texas in the summer.

[Tax-chick]

In total numbers, I’m sure it’s “rare.”

[DeFault User]

I swam in a lot of lakes and stock ponds as a kid....maybe my eating peanut butter gave me immunity.

[Pontiac]

Naegleria fowleri infections are rare*. In the 10 years from 2009 to 2018, 34 infections were reported in the U.S. Of those cases, 30 people were infected by recreational water, 3 people were infected after performing nasal irrigation using contaminated tap water, and 1 person was infected by contaminated tap water used on a backyard slip-n-slide.

34 infections in 9 years seems rare to me.

But there is no commonly accepted definition of rare.

But you could safely say that most doctors will never see a case.

[the_Watchman]

But you could safely say that most doctors will never see a case.

Which means that it is probably underdiagnosed (if that is a word).

[Tax-chick]

About 3.5 cases per year. That’s rare. There’s more bubonic plague in the U.S.!

[srmorton]

I was a Medical Technology student at Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC, when the first NC case of this kind was reported back in 1977. A young girl came to the ER one evening with an overwhelming infection and died the next day. Although she died in NC, she had acquired the infection in her home state of Georgia when she went diving in a local quarry shortly before coming to NC to visit relatives. According to her lab results, she did not appear to have a typical case of meningitis and it was not until one of the techs actually saw the amoeba moving on the slide he was using to do a cell count on the specimen did they realize what was causing her condition. On autopsy, her brain showed huge areas of destruction caused by the organisms. I have never forgotten this case. I have been teaching microbiology for over 35 years and I tell my students about it every year in my parasitology course.

[Moonman62]

About 3.5 cases per year. That’s rare. There’s more bubonic plague in the U.S.!

...

It is rare, but it makes the news every time it happens.

[ChildOfThe60s]

For those who are wondering where this occurred, it’s North Carolina.

Thanks. If these so called journalists knew how to write we wouldn't be asking that all the time.

Sometimes it's like a game trying to figure out where something occurred.

[Tax-chick]

It’s a local tv channel. They’re just not thinking about their report’s being linked nationwide. A poster on FR could take a moment to identify the location in keywords and in the initial post, if he chose to make the effort.

[ChildOfThe60s]

They’re just not thinking about their report’s being linked nationwide.

Which says a lot about the level of management. *Everything* is linked nationwide. And they should know that.

But I agree a poster should include appropriate location info if it is not crystal clear in the article.

[Bigg Red]

Exactly. One of my pet peeves.

[Pelham]

Sounds like an episode of House:

https://house.fandom.com/wiki/Euphoria_(Part_2)

[Verbosus]

BookMark

[midnightcat]

that is horrifying. I wonder if some of the water went up her nose. Or splashed in her eyes.

[srmorton]

Since she was diving and these quarries are pretty deep, they assumed the water was forced up into her nasal cavities. I also teach anatomy so I know that the olfactory nerves for the sense of smell pass from the nasal cavity through little openings in the floor of the cranium. From there, they go directly to the olfactory bulbs which are attached to the brain.

[lizma2]

The water has to be forced up the nose like when you jump into a pond without holding your nose.

It can be found in tap water too. There was a case a few years ago caused by a neti pot.