A brain-eating warning has been issued in Florida to alert swimmers about a potentially deadly amoeba after a young boy was stricken by the rare infection and left fighting for his life, the Inquisitr reported on Aug. 15.
The brain-eating warning was issued by the Florida Department of Health after a confirmed infection with the amoeba in Glades County.
High water temperatures combined with low water levels create the perfect breeding ground for the brain-eating amoeba, called Naegleria fowleri.
Zachary Reyna, 12, contracted the brain-eating infection while kneeboarding with friends in a water-filled ditch by his house on Aug. 3, prompting the Health Department to issue the brain-eating warning, CNN reported.
This is the same life-threatening amoeba infection that forced an Arkansas water park to shut down last month after a young girl there was infected with the brain-eating microscopic organism.
Although the risk of infection with the brain-eating amoeba is very small, Florida officials are urging swimmers to take some precautions.
The amoeba is commonly found in warm, fresh water, such as lakes, rivers, ponds and canals. Infections can happen when water contaminated with the amoeba enters the body through the nose. Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain, where it causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis.
In its brain-eating warning, the Florida Department of Health urged swimmers to reduce activities in fresh water when the water temperature is high and the water level is low. It advised using nose clips and keeping your head above water to prevent water from entering your nose. It also urged people to avoid digging in or stirring up sediment in warm, fresh water because that’s where the deadly amoeba live.
Swimmers should take the brain-eating warning seriously because most people who contract the brain-eating amoeba infection don’t survive. The Arkansas girl who was infected with the fresh water amoeba is only the third person in the last 50 years to survive this brain-eating infection. She was treated with an experimental anti-amoeba drug provided by the Centers for Disease Control.
Reyna had brain surgery for his amoeba infection and is still recovering in intensive care at a Miami hospital. The CDC has also provided the anti-amoeba drug to Reyna.
Meantime, with the hot weather of August still here, swimmers should heed the brain-eating warning, officials said.
“If you are partaking in recreational swimming activities during this time, please take necessary precautions and remind your family and friends to do the same,” Dr. Carina Blackmore, interim state epidemiologist for Florida, said in the Health Department’s brain-eating warning.
