Texas Youth is Victim of Rare Disease
by Texas health officials are warning residents to take precautions when swimming. From 1937 through 2007 only 121 cases have been reported in the U.S. All cases with the exception of one have been fatal.
Texas health officials are warning residents to take precautions when swimming, following the death of a seven-year-old Arlington youth. Doctors said, a seven year old boy was the victim of a rare and nearly always infection of the brain.
The boy, his big sister, cousins and family members had been swimming in the Paluxy River near Glen Rose, Texas, as part of a weeklong camping trip before the start of school. Three days later, the boy died from an infection caused by an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri.
Only a very few unlucky individuals become infected with this ameba and develop primary amebic meningoencephalitis, better known as PAM. It is a very rare, but nearly always fatal disease. The amoeba enters the nose and then follows the olfactory nerve to brain. From 1937 through 2007 a total of 121 cases of PAM have been reported in the U.S. All cases with the exception of one have been fatal.
During a 2007 outbreak, the amoeba claimed the lives of six individuals. One of the victims was a 14 year old Arizona boy hospitalized with symptoms of possible meningitis. He had begun to experience a severe headache, stiff neck, and fever. The youth had been swimming in a stream in northeastern Arizona and was observed diving and splashing in shallow water. The hospital laboratory detected N. fowleria in cerebrospinal fluid. The youth latter died from PAM.
During the 2007 outbreak, a Texas youngster aged 12 years was admitted to a hospital following six days of a high fever. He had been attending a summer camp in Central Texas in the weeks preceding his illness and had participated in recreational water activities in a lake cove. While at camp he had visited the camp nurses three times, reporting “not feeling well.” In spite of aggressive treatment with a number of antibiotics the youngster died.
It is not known what concentration of N. fowleri represents an unacceptable risk or how a standard might be established to protect human health. Why only certain individuals become infected with the ameba while others swimming in the same body of water do not remains a mystery.
Texas health officials are advising residents to avoid swimming in stagnant water and to use nose clips when skiing, jet skiing, or jumping into any fresh water. Since 2000, ten cases have been reported in Texas. All have been fatal.
Several different species of Naegleria can be found around the world. Fortunately it is only N. fowleria that causes PAM. In the United States, it has caused infections in the following fifteen southern states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The ameba may be found growing in warm lakes and rivers; geothermal hot springs; warm water discharge from industrial plants; and minimally-chlorinated or non-chlorinated swimming pools.
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