ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KTVI) — An adult in Missouri has died after they became infected with a brain-eating amoeba earlier this month, officials have confirmed.
The person, who has not been publicly identified, was diagnosed with Naegleria fowleri on Aug. 13, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said. While the case was being investigated, officials reported that they believe the patient contracted the infection, commonly referred to as a “brain-eating amoeba,” while water skiing in Lake of the Ozarks.
On Wednesday, health officials reported the patient had died at a St. Louis-area hospital.
Naegleria fowleri is a single-celled organism primarily found in warm freshwater and soil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Between 1962 and last year, only 167 cases of infections linked to brain-eating amoeba were confirmed in the U.S., Missouri health officials said.
Last month, a 12-year-old boy in South Carolina died due to an infection associated with Naegleria fowleri. Earlier this year, the CDC warned that a Texas woman had died after contracting the brain-eating amoeba while using tap water to clear out her sinuses at an RV campground. Two other deaths brought on by brain-eating amoeba infections were connected to neti pot usage last year.
“It’s very commonly found in nature, in soil or warm freshwater around the world … or in places where the water is warm for other reasons, like a thermal hot spring, or pool water that isn’t chlorinated properly,” Dr. Dennis Kyle, a professor of infectious diseases and cellular biology at the University of Georgia and the scholar chair of antiparasitic drug discovery with the Georgia Research Alliance, once explained in an interview with Nexstar.
Infection of N. fowleri usually occurs after water is forced into the nose, allowing the organism to enter the nasal cavity and cross the epithelial lining into the brain, where it begins destroying the tissue of the frontal lobe, Kyle said.
There’s an increased risk among those who partake in freshwater activities during the warmer months, he added.
Anyone can contract the infection, but the CDC has identified “young boys” as the group infected most often.
“The reasons for this aren’t clear. It’s possible that young boys are more likely to participate in activities like diving into the water and playing in the sediment at the bottom of lakes and rivers,” the CDC writes.
The resulting brain infection, known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), can lead to symptoms including fever, headaches, stiff neck, seizures and hallucinations within two weeks of exposure. It is almost always fatal, with death occurring “within about 5 days after symptoms first begin” but potentially up to a few weeks afterward, the agency says.
Symptoms can include:
Severe headache
Fever
Nausea
Vomiting
Stiff neck
Seizures
Altered mental status
Hallucinations
Treatment of Naegleria fowleri infection consists of antifungal and antibiotic cocktails, and doctors have also induced hypothermia in patients to reduce fevers and protect undamaged brain tissue while the treatments are administered.
Survival, however, is “rare,” with a fatality rate estimated at about 97% the CDC says. Early detection and treatment can be key to improving chances, but infections may go ignored — or be misdiagnosed — until it’s too late.
Prevention is the best way to combat any infection, officials advise. Steps to do so can include using nose clips or keeping your head above water when in warm freshwater bodies of water, hot springs, or other thermal waters and avoiding disrupting sediment in shallow water sources as the amoeba is known to live within it.
