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
No comments:
Post a Comment