The death of a Nebraska child has been linked to the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri, which kills nearly every single person it infects.
The unnamed child is believed to have contracted the infection while swimming in the Elkhorn River, which flows through the Omaha, Nebraska area. Officials announced he died in Douglas County, which includes the state’s largest city. If confirmed, this would be the first recorded case of a brain-eating amoeba infection in Cornhusker State.
Brain-eating amoeba infections are rare but incredibly deadly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reporting 154 cases from 1962 through 2021, with another three so far this summer. Only four Americans have ever recovered from the infection.
Experts warn that the creatures are most active during the summer months, when temperatures start to rise. They are found in lakes and rivers across America, but can also hide in swimming pools and water parks that do not have proper sanitation facilities.
“Each year, millions of recreational water exposures occur, while only 0 to 8 Naegleria fowleri infections are identified each year,” said Dr. Nebraska state epidemiologist Matthew Donahue in a statement.
“Infections typically occur later in the summer, in warmer, slower-flowing water, in July, August and September.
“Cases are more commonly identified in southern states but have more recently been identified further north. Limiting the possibility of freshwater getting up your nose is the best way to reduce the risk of infection.”
In which part of the Elkhorn River — which flows from near Bassett, Nebraska in the northern region of the state to the southeastern part of the state where it joins the Platte River near Omaha — the child is on of the infection was not disclosed.
The 22-year-old Florida student who survived a brain-eating amoeba had to learn to walk and write again after an illness damaged his brain
A Florida college student found himself unable to walk stairs and write after a deadly, brain-eating amoeba he caught shooting a cannon into a stagnant pond left him underweight and brain-damaged.
Sebastian Deleon, now 22, of Weston, is one of four lucky people to have survived infection with the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri out of 154 registered cases in the United States. He was infected six years ago at the age of 16.
In the early stages, he was plagued by severe headaches that felt like a smooth stone was “pressing down” on his head. This left him unable to get up quickly and requiring him to wear sunglasses “even when the sun wasn’t shining,” prompting his parents to take him to the hospital.
Once there, the doctors prescribed him seven antibiotics and put him in an artificial coma. When he regained consciousness about a week later, it took him about three weeks of rehab to regain his strength.
Experts are urging Americans to be aware of the amoeba lurking in waterways across the country, saying global warming — warming stagnant pools further north in the country — is making it a risk in other areas.
Sebastian Deleon, now 22, of Weston, Florida, has revealed his experience after catching the brain-eating amoeba – scientifically called Naegleria fowleri. He said it initially left him with a severe headache before becoming sensitive to the sun and having trouble getting up. He is one of the lucky four to have survived the infection out of 154 known cases
It’s the third confirmed case of the brain-eating amoeba in America this year. On July 6, a Missouri man caught the amoeba after swimming in the Lake of Three Fires in southwest Iowa. He later died on July 18.
A second case was discovered in Caleb Ziegelbauer, 13, of Port Charlotte, Florida. He was infected after swimming in a river near his home.
Ziegelbauer is still alive – and long survives the two-week period in which a person normally dies after being infected.
The teenager is still in hospital battling the infection but has recently been off his ventilator for some time as his condition improves.
dr Anjan Debnath, a parasitic disease expert at the University of California, San Diego, told last month that doctors often misdiagnose the symptoms as meningitis because of their rarity — wasting valuable time devoted to treating the parasite could become.
Such was the case with Ziegelbauer, where valuable time was wasted early in his infection due to a misdiagnosis.
Debnath said the amoeba thrives in temperatures around 115 Fahrenheit, meaning it will be most active during the hottest days of summer in states where high temperatures are not uncommon.
He explained that it enters through the olfactory nerve of the nose, giving it a short and direct route to the brain. If water containing the amoeba gets up your nose, it is likely to cause infection.
However, ingesting water by mouth is fine because the stomach acid is strong enough to kill the amoeba.
Once a person’s olfactory nerve is exposed, it can take about one to nine days for symptoms to appear. They usually die within five days of the symptoms first appearing.
“It’s pretty fast, it’s very progressive. It literally eats the brain tissue,” Debnath explained.
He describes the infection as progressing in two stages. The first is relatively minor, with the person experiencing headaches and other flu-like symptoms. This means that if a doctor doesn’t know a person has been swimming in untreated water, they might not even suspect the amoeba.
Once symptoms reach the second stage, a person will begin to experience severe neurological problems, such as seizures. A doctor will then likely learn about the infection through a spinal fluid test.
By this time, a person is likely to already have symptoms so severe that death is almost guaranteed.
Although these cases are rare, averaging fewer than three a year, Debnath still advises against swimming in untreated water during the summer, especially in places like Florida and Texas where temperatures get exceptionally high.
Since the amoeba only lives in fresh water, swimming in the sea is generally safe.
When families visit a freshwater beach, everyone entering the water should wear a nose clip to prevent water from entering their nose.
Debnath also advises against kicking up dirt or sand from the bottom of the lake, as the microscopic creatures usually reside deep below in warmer areas.
Falls are also not always spawned from freshwater lakes and rivers. In 2020, a six-year-old boy in Texas died after being exposed by the water supply in his hometown of Lake Jackson.
Last year, a three-year-old in the state died after being exposed to the brain-eating amoeba at a spray park. His family later sued for negligence, saying operators should have taken better care to disinfect the water.
A North Carolina child, whose age was not disclosed, died last year after being abandoned in an improperly sanitized private pond.
Debnath said those cases could have been avoided with proper chlorination and sanitation of the seat water alone.