8/20/22
source: https://www.orissapost.com/brain-eating-amoeba-kills-child-in-us/
Federal health officials confirmed Friday that a Nebraska child died
from a rare infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a
river near Omaha. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
confirmed the presence of the naegleria fowleri amoeba in the child,
according to the Douglas County Department of Health in Omaha.Health
officials believe the child became infected while swimming Sunday in the
Elkhorn River, a few miles west of Omaha. Authorities have not released
the child’s name. People are usually infected when water containing the
amoeba enters the body through the nose while swimming in or diving into
lakes and rivers. Other sources have been documented, including tainted
tap water in a Houston-area city in 2020. It is the second death in the
Midwest this summer from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, an
infection caused by the amoeba that has proved fatal in 97 per cent of
reported cases. A Missouri resident died of the infection in July after
swimming at Lake of Three Fires in southwestern Iowa, health officials
have said. Symptoms of the infection include fever, headache, nausea or
vomiting, progressing to a stiff neck, loss of balance, hallucinations
and seizures. The CDC says naegleria fowleri infections are rare, with
about three cases in the United States every year. There were 154 cases
reported between 1962 and 2021 in the US, with only four survivors. Only
about 430 cases have ever been documented globally. In the US,
infections from the amoeba typically occur in southern states because
the amoeba thrives in waters that are warmer than 86 degrees Fahrenheit
(30 Celsius). But infections have migrated north in recent years,
including two cases in Minnesota since 2010.
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