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Warm Weather Signals Danger of
Brain-Eating Amoeba

If you’re thinking of taking your jet ski or other personal
watercraft out to enjoy a vacation in warm freshwater this
summer, you need to be aware of a deadly health threat,
Naegleria fowleri. This microscopic killer is a brain-eating
amoeba that lies in wait in warm, standing water.

The latest victim was a 9-year-old girl from Johnson
County, Kansas, who died July 9 from primary amoebic
meningoencephalitis, an extremely rare but almost
always fatal brain infection. The Kansas Department of
Health says the girl likely contracted the infection from
Naegleria fowleri amoeba while swimming in freshwater
over Fourth of July weekend.

While you probably have jet ski insurance to protect
your watercraft, there is no insurance that can protect
you from this menace.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the amoeba
enters the body through the nose. After the
start of symptoms, the disease advances
rapidly and usually causes death within about
five days.

Early symptoms include:
•severe frontal headache
•Fever
•Nausea
• vomiting, leading to
– o seizures
o confusion and
o hallucinations as the amoeba moves through the nasal
cavity to the brain.

Of 132 people infected with Naegleria fowleri in the United
States between 1962 and 2013, only three have survived,
according to the CDC. One survivor, a 12-year-old girl
infected in 2013, was diagnosed early and treated with
“therapeutic hypothermia” and the experimental drug
miltefosine.

Identifying the signs of the infection is not easy
because tests to detect it are available in only a few
laboratories in the United States.

• According to the CDC:
• • About 75 percent of diagnoses are made after the death of the patient.
• The infection is most common in 15 southern-tier states (more than half
of all infections occur in Texas and Florida.
• Three-quarters of all U.S. cases have been linked to swimming in
freshwater lakes and rivers
• Infections have also been associated with slip-n-slides, bathtubs and neti
pots.
• Infections linked to freshwater swimming mostly occur during the heat of
summer in July and August when water temperatures peak and water
levels are low.
• The infection is not contagious and can’t be contracted from a properly
chlorinated pool or saltwater.
• Naegleria can not be contracted through drinking contaminated water

The CDC recommends the following tips for summer
swimmers:
•• Hold your nose shut, use nose clips, or keep your head
above water when taking part in water-related activities in
bodies of warm freshwater.
• Avoid putting your head under the water in hot springs and
other untreated thermal waters.
• Avoid water-related activities in warm freshwater during
periods of high water temperature.
• Avoid digging in, or stirring up, the sediment while taking part
in water-related activities in shallow, warm freshwater areas.

There is no known way to control the occurrence of
Naeglaria fowleri in freshwater lakes and rivers.
What you can control is avoiding paying too much
for watercraft insurance by getting a free quote
today.

Will the threat of disease
keep you from enjoying
water activities? Feel free
to share your thoughts in
the comments section
below.

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Warm Weather Signals Danger of Brain-Eating Amoeba

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