Boy died from brain-eating amoeba he was infected with at Texas water park

A child died earlier this month after possibly being infected with a deadly amoeba at a water park in Arlington, Texas, USA.

The child, whose age and identity have not been disclosed for reasons of confidentiality, He died on September 11 after visiting a shallow pool to splash around in the Don Misenhumer water park.

According to local authorities, the boy was hospitalized in a children’s clinic with primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) September 5, a fatal disease that directly affects the brain.

The city said as a result of the case it had closed the park’s lower pool as well as the rest of the water parks for the rest of the year as a precaution.

According to the departmental department of public health, the exposure of the child to water containing amoeba “Naegleria fowleri ” It could come from two possible sources, the family home in County Tarrant or the shallow pool at Don Misenhimer Park in Arlington.

For this reason, water samples were taken from the wading pool and sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which confirmed last Friday that these samples were positive for the amoeba Naegleria fowleri and therefore the wading pool was the likely source of exposure to the deadly parasite.

According to local authorities, all of the water parks passed their annual reviews before being temporarily open during the summer, but research that found the brain-eating amoeba found some to be lacking in quality testing. some water.

“We have identified shortcomings in our daily inspection program”, said Deputy City Manager Lemuel Randolph. “These shortcomings have prevented us from meeting our maintenance standards in our wading pools.”

The city said records from Misenhimer Park and the Beacon Recreation Center showed that “Parks and Recreation employees have not systematically recorded, or in some cases failed to perform, the required water quality tests before the facilities open each day. “

In its statement, the city said testing included checking for chlorine, a disinfectant used to prevent harmful organic materials, such as Naegleria fowleri, from living in the water.

“When chlorine level readings were below state minimum standards at these locations, the inspection log did not consistently reflect actions taken by city employees to increase chlorination levels.” said the city.

For example, newspapers did not always show the amount of disinfectant chemical manually added to the wading pool water system. The records also did not systematically include a follow-up reading to confirm that the water chlorination was at acceptable levels after treatment.

What is primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM)?

PAM is a rare and often fatal infection caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri. The parasite, commonly known as the brain-eating amoeba, typically infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes PAM.

The CDC reports that “The infection usually occurs when people go swimming or diving in places with warm fresh water, such as lakes and rivers. In very rare cases, Naegleria infections can also occur when contaminated water from other sources (such as heated or insufficiently chlorinated swimming pool water and contaminated tap water) he enters through the nose ”.

The risk of infection with Naegleria fowleri is very low, with 37 infections reported in the United States between 2010 and 2020, and only 151 since 1962, According to the CDC. Most infections occur in July and August.

Symptoms of PAM usually appear within nine days of infection. Other than this child, no other case of this infection has been reported to Tarrant County Public Health.

The most recent case of PAM in north Texas claimed the life of 10-year-old Lily Avant, who died in 2019 almost a week after doctors confirmed she contracted Naegleria fowleri while swimming in a river near her home in Whitney. .

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