Posted on 07/25/2019 2:51:11 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Officials said the victim, from Guilford County, died after developing primary amebic meningoencephalitis, an illness caused by an amoeba that is naturally present in warm freshwater during the summer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that the individual’s illness was caused by Naegleria fowleri, which is an amoeba (one-celled living organism) commonly found in warm freshwater. The amoeba does not cause illness if swallowed but can be fatal if forced up the nose. Infections usually occur when it is hot for prolonged periods of time, which results in higher water temperatures and lower water levels.
(Excerpt) Read more at wyff4.com ...
For those who are wondering where this occurred, it’s North Carolina.
This happened in Charlotte at the whitewater center three years ago. Not that “rare”.
Happens to folks who swim in ponds (called tanks) in Texas in the summer.
In total numbers, I’m sure it’s “rare.”
I swam in a lot of lakes and stock ponds as a kid....maybe my eating peanut butter gave me immunity.
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.
Which means that it is probably underdiagnosed (if that is a word).
About 3.5 cases per year. That’s rare. There’s more bubonic plague in the U.S.!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Exactly. One of my pet peeves.
BookMark
that is horrifying. I wonder if some of the water went up her nose. Or splashed in her eyes.
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.
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