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A 7-year-old child infected with rare brain-eating amoeba in Northern California has passed away.
Tehama County David Pruitt’s family confirmed The Associated Press that the boy died on August 7 of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is caused by Naegleria fowleri or “the brain-eating amoeba”. Pruitt contracted amoeba after swimming in an unidentified California lake.
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Naegleria fowleri typically infects people through the nose when submerged in warm fresh water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms may include a severe frontal headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, seizures, hallucinations, and coma.
Pruitt was hospitalized on July 30 before being medevaced to UC Davis Medical Center, where doctors placed him on life support because of severe swelling in his brain.
Although infection is rare, it is usually fatal. Since 1978, there have only been five documented survivors in North America.
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