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Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills Teen in Arizona
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A 14-year-old boy, Aaron Evans, in Phoenx, AZ, USA, is the latest victim of Naegleria fowleri, a brian-eating amoeba that enters the victim’s nose and goes straight to the brain, killing its victim within two weeks. Evans is the sixth fatality from the amoeba this year and it has health officials worried.
Naegleria fowleri thrives in warm weather, and in “lake water, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment” doctors say.
There have been 23 known deaths from Naegleria in the US between 1995 and 2004. Evans contracted the Naegleria amoeba after swimming in Lake Havasu, a man made body of water, located on the Colorado River between Arizona and California. Symptoms include stiff neck, headache, and fever.
Photo AP: Pallbearers carry the casket of Aaron Evans at Lake Havasu Memorial Gardens in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. on Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007.
This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better," Beach said. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect to see more cases.
According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases _ three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.
(comcast.net)
Read More: cdc.gov Via: comcast.net
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