Deadly infections by amoebas on the rise

Recent attention has been paid to a case of an infection and death of a young Arizona boy by the amoeba Naegleria Fowleri. The boy contracted the disease by swimming in Lake Havasu, and died within days of becoming ill. The disease is almost always fatal. Infection occurs when the amoeba invades the nervous system through the nasal cavity, climbing nerve fibers before invading the skull and infecting the brain through the cranium floor. The amoeba then causes cell death and bleeding in the brain's olfactory bulbs characterized by symptoms starting with problems with taste and smell, and then progressing rapidly to headache,nausea, vomiting, and fever. Personality changes can be seen, with death occuring within two weeks. Unlike bacteria and viruses, amoeba sit in their own class and are extremely difficult to treat. Normally targetting children or people with weak immune systems, Naegleria Fowleri responds only in its early states to broad antibiotic treatment. Experimental serums exist, but have not yet been proven on humans. Only six people have survived the infection, giving the disease only a 3% survival rate, with many of these cases only being diagnosed post-mortem. Its possible that many more cases have been seen, but not recognized. The media has described this disease as a rare brain-eating amoeba, but it doesn't seem so rare anymore. Between 1995 and 2004 twenty three cases of Naegleria Fowleri infection were found in the United States, average about 2.5 cases per year. However, in 2007, in a nearly three-fold increase, six cases have been reported, all of them fatal.The amoeba breakout is unusually widespread, with the 2007 deaths being reported in Florida, Texas and Arizona, covering the entire length of the southern United States. What is causing the alarming rise in cases? The disease breeds in warm, stagnant water and as global warming continues to march, the CDC believes it will become increasingly widespread and common. Prevention is the key, do not swim in stagnant hot water, and be particularly careful when allowing children and young adults to swim.

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewnews.php?id=107658&referer=sphere_related_content

Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis on CNN today

Dr. Michael Beach from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention was interviewed on CNN today. See video below.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2007/10/02/chetry.killer.lakes.cnn

Even though Dr. Beach says the risk is low in getting this disease, would you want to take that risk with your precious child? I think not! I was not very happy with Dr. Beach's video.

6 Die from brain-eating amoeba in lakes

PHOENIX - It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070928/ap_on_he_me/killer_amoeba;_ylt=Av4ur2HTrcIcf1lgJOnreYgiANEA

Life cycle of Naegleria fowleri

A single cell amoeba – Naegleria fowleri – is appearing in some warm Orlando-area fresh water lakes and has caused at least three deaths.

http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/FreeLivingAmebic.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/naegleria/factsht_naegleria.htm#what

Amoeba News

The Three Florida children that have deceased from Pam are in the news.

Cnn talked with Will Sellars father and step mother Yesterday.
AOL has the story in their Headlines today.

When our Grandson passed in 2002 it was on the News and Cnn. It started on Wednesday, July 23, 2002 and lasted a few days after his death.
His parent's were even on "Inside Edition" with the story of their son.

It was a very public story!! Hoping this time, more people will hear and believe........It can and does happen.

I am hoping to hear from others that have lost children to this dreadful disease. I want to make a memorial Web site, so the world can get a better handle on just how many we have lost due to this amoeba.

Health Warning

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2007/9/5/health_warning_because_of_fresh_water_amoeba.html

Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_amoebic_meningoencephalitis

In the summer of 1978, two children who had recently been swimming in Florida died from Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis.

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:7217717

Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis in Texas, 1983-1996

1997 A 14-year-old boy died from PAM after swimming at a canal in Orange County.

1999 A second fatality from PAM was confirmed in a 19-year-old Palm Beach County boy. Other sporadic cases may have occurred during the intervening decade, but these cases are not reportable and therefore complete data are not available.

2002 Two Central Florida boys died in 2002 from an infection caused by the amoeba, which enters the body through the nose. Only 24 cases were documented in the country between 1989 and 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another boy had an illness he picked up in the water. It entered his body through a wound.
I am not sure of the outcome of this boy.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0207/26/lt.05.html

2007 Three more children who had recently been swimming in Florida died from Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis.

http://www.local6.com/news/14058562/detail.html

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/09/18/zarrella.killerlakes/index.html?iref=newssearch

We lost our precious 12 year old grandson July 26, 2002 from PAM. He was tubing in a lake around the Orlando area before his death. Another boy, died the same day in a different hospital.

It has always been our hope that Florida would warn people of the amoeba in the lakes, so no other families would lose their precious children from this avoidable disease.

We are looking for a Florida web site that reports the fatalities each year from the amoeba. One web site (written on the day our grandson died) reports some deaths that have occurred in the state.

http://volusiahealth.net/eh/public_updates/amoeba.html

The schools warn our children against drugs, etc. They should be sure to warn the children (and their parents) of the dangers of the Florida waters in the warm weather.

We have told many people the story of our beloved Grandson, and most people have never heard of this disease. The State of Florida and our schools should do more to make people aware of the fatal Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis.

Although this disease is rare, it is devastating. Please let me hear from you if you have lost a child from this fatal water borne illness. I am sure there are more cases than the ones I know about. I believe many deaths have occurred that were not diagnosed.

I am constantly looking on the web about Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis.

One site I saw this morning surprised me. The amoeba was in the well water. 5 month old dies possibly from bathing.

http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/content/full/40/1/309

MENINGITIS AMOEBA SOURCE A MYSTERY
11/23/2002
A meningitis-causing amoeba has been found in a Rose Valley Water Co. well tank and the refrigerator filter of the grandfather of a little boy who died of the disease in October, health authorities...
CHLORINATION ADVISED FOR COUNTY WATER
11/20/2002
Maricopa County health officials are recommending the chlorination of all public water systems in the county after a city well in Peoria tested positive for an amoeba that also has been implicated ...
YEAR AFTER DEATHS, STATE, COUNTY SAY WELL WATER IS SAFE
10/07/2003
A year after two 5-year-old boys died of amoebic meningitis caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba, county and state officials say well water is safe in the Valley. John Kolman, Maricopa County man...

http://localsearch.azcentral.com/sp?catId=&keywords=AMOEBA