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- A 10-year-old Texas girl was killed by Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that eats the brain.
- She had been swimming in the Brazos River earlier this month.
- The amoeba causes a rare brain infection called amoeba primitive meningoencephalitis (PAM), almost always fatal. Its mortality rate is over 97%.
- This is the 147th case of Naegleria fowleri in the United States since 1962; only four people survived.
- These amoebae are found in freshwater lakes, rivers and hot springs and enter the brain through the nose.
- Visit the Insider Homepage for more stories.
Lily Mae Avant, 10, died last night at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, after an infection infected her brain tissue.
On 9 September, Avant reportedly complained of headaches and was reportedly sent home with a fever. Her parents took her to the hospital the next morning after she had not reacted, according to a Facebook publication by her cousin Wendy Scott. The doctors eventually concluded that she had contracted a fatal brain infection called amoeba primitive meningoencephalitis (PAM).
WFP is caused by Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba that can be found in warm fresh waters around the world. KCEN, a local NBC affiliate, reported that Before had been swimming in the Brazos River near their home in Valley Mills on Labor Day weekend.
The infection causes intense brain swelling and is almost always fatal – its mortality rate is over 97%. Of the 147 cases documented in the United States since 1962, only four people survived.
Read more:A Florida man died after losing 25% of his skin to the benefit of a flesh-eating bacteria. Experts say that infections will become more common as seawater warms.
Earlier this year, a 59-year-old man from North Carolina died of infection after swimming in a water park. In October 2018, a Californian boy contracted an amoeba after entering a hot spring in the eastern Sierras, according to a report by the CDC. His symptoms manifested 12 days after his bathing and he died three days later.
Naegleria fowleri enters our brain through the nose
Naegleria fowleri is not found in seawater; it is quite common in freshwater lakes, rivers and hot springs. The amoeba prefers high water temperatures, up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Infections usually occur when people go swimming in these waters. When sediments from a lake or river are disturbed, amoebas are brewed into the water, which swimmers can then absorb through the nose. The amoeba then uses the olfactory nerve to migrate to the brain. It is also known that infections occur after swimmers have inhaled insufficiently chlorinated pool water.
People can not be infected if they swallow contaminated water.
Toxicologist Bill Sullivan wrote in The Conversation that amoebae get into our brains because they are wet and warm, as is their ideal habitat.
"But the brain does not have any bacteria that the amoeba can eat, so the body attacks the brain cells to get nutrients," he wrote.
While the parasite eats the brain, our body's immune system defends itself, causing intense swelling and inflammation of our skulls, Sullivan added. The pressure of this swelling finally interrupts the connection of the brain to the spinal cord.
The infection causes vomiting, convulsions, swelling of the brain and death
The first symptoms of PAM may appear up to nine days after the infection and include headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. Subsequent symptoms may include: stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions, hallucinations, and coma. Once symptoms appear, the infection progresses rapidly and usually leads to death in about five days.
"The initial symptoms can easily be confused with a less serious illness, which costs valuable treatment time," said Sullivan.
There is no rapid diagnostic test for amoeba, he added, so patients are often treated early for viral or bacterial meningitis. This was the case for Avant.
By the time the infection is identified, it is often too late for patients because "the presence of the parasite leads to a rapid and irrevocable destruction of vital brain tissue," wrote Sullivan.
This is the 36th case reported in the United States since 2009.
Before & # 39; s is the 147th case of MAP reported in the United States over the past 57 years. Only four of these patients survived: one in 1978, two in 2013 and one in 2016.
Between 2009 and 2018, 36 WFP infections were reported in the United States. Of these cases, 32 people were infected after swimming in recreational water, three after cleaning their nostrils with tap water that turned out to be contaminated, and one person was been infected with contaminated tap water used on a back toboggan. , according to the CDC.
In general, most cases of Naegleria fowleri occur in the southern states of the country, with more than half of the infections reported in Texas and Florida.
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