COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A 12-year-old boy died from a brain-eating amoeba two weeks after a vacation weekend on a well-liked South Carolina lake.
The brain-eating amoeba enters the physique when water is pressured up the nostril, like when somebody jumps or dives within the water.
It causes an an infection that swells the mind and destroys tissue. Fewer than 10 instances are reported annually within the U.S., however nearly all are deadly.
Listed here are some issues to know concerning the amoeba, its newest sufferer and different risks on freshwater lakes:
What’s the brain-eating amoeba?
The amoeba’s scientific title is Naegleria fowleri and it’s most harmful in very heat water, together with in lakes and rivers within the southern a part of the U.S. and different locations with scorching, generally dry summers like Pakistan and Australia.
The amoeba enters the mind via the olfactory nerve within the nostril. As soon as inside, it causes an an infection known as main amebic meningoencephalitis.
Signs begin as a reasonably normal headache and nausea. By the point the ache turns into extreme, it’s nearly at all times too late to avoid wasting the contaminated particular person. Of the 167 instances reported within the U.S. between 1962 and 2024, solely 4 individuals have survived, in accordance with the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. A lot of the deaths occurred inside 5 days of getting sick, in accordance with the CDC.
What occurred?
Jaysen Carr went swimming at Lake Murray about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Columbia over the July Fourth weekend.
He bought sick a number of days later and died on July 18.
His father and mom had by no means heard of the amoeba earlier than a health care provider in tears advised them what exams of his spinal fluid had discovered.
Clarence Carr stated he was shocked to study South Carolina, like most different U.S. states, has no regulation requiring public reporting of deaths or infections from the amoeba. The lake wasn’t closed and no water testing was carried out.
“My son was a really good particular person. If he had one warning, he would have thought swimming within the lake was a nasty concept,” Carr stated.
The amoeba is pretty widespread and is most harmful when the water is heat.
Researchers are attempting to determine why the infections are so uncommon. Some individuals have been discovered to have had antibodies, signalling they might have survived publicity. Others could die from mind swelling and different issues with out the amoeba ever being detected.
“My son misplaced his life swimming. We assumed it was secure,” Carr stated.
The amoeba can present up in scorching springs, rivers and, on uncommon events, in faucet water. That’s why medical doctors suggest utilizing sterile water for cleansing nasal passages with a neti pot.
The one technique to be fully secure is to not swim in lakes or rivers and, should you do, hold your head above water. Pinching your nostril or utilizing nostril clips when diving or swimming can hold water out of your nostril.
Different risks lurking in lakes and rivers
There are different risks in swimming in lakes and rivers as an alternative of swimming pools, the place chemical substances can kill off harmful micro organism and different organisms.
A mouthful of water may include E.coli micro organism. And whereas the micro organism usually reside within the intestines of wholesome individuals and animals, some strains may cause a spread of situations, together with urinary tract an infection, cystitis, intestinal an infection and vomiting, with the worst instances resulting in life-threatening blood poisoning, in accordance with the Mayo Clinic.
Algae can even trigger sicknesses. Cyanobacteria — additionally known as blue-green algae — are plant-like organisms that reside in water.
The algae can appear to be foam, scum, mats, or paint on the floor of the water and might develop beneath it.
The organisms can rapidly develop uncontrolled, or “bloom,” in heat climate, helped alongside by extreme vitamins in fertilizers and pet waste carried alongside by stormwater.
A few of the algae produce toxins that may trigger signs together with pores and skin irritation, abdomen cramps, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle and joint ache, mouth blisters, seizures, and acute liver harm, in accordance with the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
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