Boy dies of rare brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a California lake

The family confirmed that a boy from Tehama County, California died after exposure to an extremely rare brain-eating amoeba. Writes about it San francisco gate.

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7-year-old David Pruitt died on Aug. 7 of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, his aunt Crystal Haley reported.

The boy was rushed to the emergency room on July 30 and then taken to the University of California Davis Medical Center, where he was on a life support machine with severe cerebral edema.

There have been only 1971 cases of this amoeba infection in California since 10, the Tehama County Health Agency reported on Aug. 4. It said that the boy probably caught the infection in a lake in Tehama County, but it was not specified which lake.

Tehama County lies between the Mendocino National Forest and the Lassen National Forest, and its largest community is Red Bluff.

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People who die of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis are first infected with the amoeba naegleria fowleri, which is commonly found in freshwater bodies such as lakes or rivers. Most infections occur through the nose when people swim or dive, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Early symptoms include severe headache, fever, and nausea, followed by two symptoms such as seizures, hallucinations, and coma. Symptoms are similar to bacterial meningitis and this is one reason diagnosis can be difficult.

“The disease is difficult to detect because the disease progresses rapidly, so diagnosis is usually made after death,” the CDC notes. Department data shows that between 1962 and 2019, there were 148 cases of infection in the United States, with only four survivors. Most cases were in men and children.

“The extremely low occurrence of amoeba makes epidemiological research difficult. It is not known why some people become infected with amoebas while millions of other people exposed to warm fresh water during recreation, including those who swam with infected people, do not become infected,” the CDC says.

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“Currently there is no method that would accurately and reproducibly measure the number of amoebas in water,” continues the representative of the department. “This makes it unclear how a standard could be set to protect human health and how public health officials would measure and enforce such a standard.”

On the portal GoFundMe raised over $ 20 for the boy's family out of a goal of $ 000.

“The family is extremely grateful to know that people care so deeply about them, have and continue to pray for them, and have donated whatever they can to help them during this tragic time,” Haley wrote.

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