Arizona Boy Dies Of Rare Infection
A 14-year-old Lake Havasu boy has become the sixth victim to die nationwide this year of a microscopic organism that attacks the body through the nasal cavity, quickly eating its way to the brain.
The CDC says cases of Naegleria fowleri infection are spiking this year. In addition to the Arizona case, health officials reported two cases in Texas and three more in central Florida this year.
This is why I don't swim in lakes.
12 comments:
About 5-6 years ago we had some central Florida lakes closed because of amoebas and very warm waters.
It was a different infection(I believe)but nasty results.
tmw
I won't be swimming In any Lakes either!
tmw: I have read that Naegleria fowleri infections are lethal 97% of the time. It's rare, yes, but I've avoided lakes since I heard about the giant amoeba.
shover: I wasn't aware that robots did any swimming at all ;-)
Holy smokes! And I used to go lake swimming all the time!
I always thought that leeches were the nastiest things in lakes.
I hate swimming in lakes.
(*)>
Also, the warmer winters aren't killing as much nasty stuff...so you have higher populations of bacteria and such infecting people.
we prefer lakes to streams, rivers and the ocean.
in streams and rivers you have the possibility of breathing in animal waste from upstream; in the ocean you have the possibility of shark, stingray and jellyfish attacks.
when at all possible, i much prefer good, clean pools and then you also run the risk of certain maladies.
face it - we're just not 100% safe anymore.
of course, here in northern arkansas most of our lakes are in the top 10 cleanest lakes in the nation and have up to 30 feet visibility in most cases.
i don't think there's a need to be too alarmed given the statistics.
p.s. birdwoman - leeches are not as bad as one might think - they use them in the field of medicine and they'll usually only attach to where one has an open sore or cut - they are bacteria feeders which isn't all that bad...
Well, down here, even the Indian and Banana Rivers are more lagoon than river. They get quite warm in the summer, in fact you don't even want to get near them when it is hot and dry, the dying vegetation will drive you away with the smell! Plus since they are brackish water, the mother dolphins and bull sharks have their young in the river...so you have jellyfish, young bull sharks, dolphin pods and wormy sheepshead and drum...not to mention water moccassins...
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!
tmw
we have been following this with interest as my husband has friends with small children back in the Bartow/Lakeland area of Florida still. i am telling ya, one more reason why i am glad we are in Oregon adn not Florida. although i enjoyed our visit out in the spring, its cold here... ameoba in water would freeze to death.
scary stuff. stay safe!
6 deaths so far this year is statistically a rare event. Most of the people who swim in lakes don't get infected.
Unless it's a really clear spring, I don't enjoy swimming in lakes. They're always so mucky.
You know what, just give me my chlorinated pool. I know it's clean & there are no creepy crawlies except for the RayVac.
How very sad for a family to lose this boy due to such a rare thing.
Yucky!
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