Amoeba infection caused boy’s death

A nine year old boy has died of  an infection caused by amoebas    according to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Her [Dr. Keri Hall]  department received results from an autopsy Friday that confirmed the cause of death as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is caused by Naegleria fowleri. She said the amoebas, which swim up the nose and enter the brain, live in freshwater bodies around the world.

Hall’s department has not tested area lakes, ponds and rivers where Christian spent time with a fishing camp the week before his death. Her department will “probably” do testing at various ponds and lakes in the region, but she said she doesn’t know when the tests will be conducted and doesn’t expect the sampling to be “particularly helpful.”

The amoebas are particularly prevalent in shallow, still water during warm weather. But since Christian died, temperatures have dropped, and the amoeba population likely has fallen off as a result, Hall said.

The parents said that the child had attended a fishing camp for children.  The Virginia Health Department might not ever learn where the child picked up the fatal amoeba.  The department advises against swimming in ponds and lakes or anywhere the water is not moving. 

Though this is the first case of an amoeba death in Virginia since 1969, more than 100 people have died from amoebas in the U.S. since 1962.

Last week, a 16-year-old Florida girl died of an infection that officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed was the same deadly amoeba. Meningoencephalitis causes brain swelling and is often fatal.

Jeremy Lewis, a Texas father whose 7-year-old son, Kyle, died 11 months ago after contracting an amoeba while swimming in a pond with his family, said he wants to make people aware of the dangers of swimming in still water, particularly in warm weather.

Lewis wants to spread the message that people should not swim in ponds and lakes, especially in warm water, and if one does, to take precautions. He and his wife, Julie, formed the Kyle Lewis Amoeba Awareness Foundation to raise money and public knowledge about the parasite. He wants to get the word out that this isn’t as rare as people think.

This certainly isn’t something I have ever heard of.  How horrible to send your child off to fishing camp only to have him contract something so deadly.  We have all seen ponds and streams that just looked nasty.  But who would think they were killer nasty?