Two American boys die from brain-eating amoeba

Two American boys died in a brain eating amoeba. Six-year-old Josiah McIntyre of Texas died about a week after getting sick, and 13-year-old Tanner Lakewall of Florida died a few days after swimming in a lake suspected of being infected with amoeba. Died.

Two cases NEJM A photo of a 44-year-old woman dying in her brain eating amoeba after swimming in an indoor pool in India. The case report was issued by a doctor at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, but it is unknown where the man was diagnosed and treated.

It turns out that all three were infected with amoeba Naegleria fowleri.

N. Faureli It is a unicellular organism commonly found in freshwater sources such as lakes, rivers and hot springs. It can also be found in pools if the water is not sufficiently chlorinated or if it is contaminated tap water. It usually infects people by invading the body through the nose. From there it travels to the brain, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis. It is a disorder of the central nervous system that causes inflammation and destruction of the brain and its underlying layers. On average, people die 5 days after infection.

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Cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis are rare. The 2018 CDC report estimates that 16 people have died N. Faureli It is transmitted annually in the United States, and many of these are undiagnosed.

For a 44-year-old man, he arrived at the emergency department suffering from coughing and confusion. His symptoms were coming the day before. It turned out that he was swimming 5 days before the onset of symptoms. His temperature was 39.8 degrees Celsius and his heart rate was 120 beats per minute. “He didn’t answer the question or blink the visual threat; but the brainstem reflex was intact and he withdrew his arms and legs from the painful stimulus,” the report said. It was.

He was first given antibiotics for bacterial meningitis, and his fever was reduced, but his mental condition did not improve. Further testing revealed N. Faureli.. It is written by researchers, “although rare cases of survival have been described, it is almost universally fatal.” The man died five days after arriving at the hospital.

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In Florida, Tanner’s parents told News4Jax that he was swimming in a lake at a campsite in North Florida a few days before his son got sick. He suffered from nausea, vomiting and headaches, as well as stiff shoulders. Doctors initially diagnosed him with streptococcal pharyngitis. His parents disagreed with the diagnosis and took him to another medical facility, where he was placed on a ventilator. And he was diagnosed with an amoeba-eating brain N. Faureli..

“They said,” Sorry, your son doesn’t have bacterial meningitis. He has a parasitic amoeba and there is no cure, “father Travis Wall told News4Jax. It was.

Tanner was removed from life support after showing no signs of brain activity.

Josiah from Houston fell ill in early September and suffered from fever and fever. Her mother, Maria, said doctors initially thought she had a viral infection, but was later told she was suffering from an amoeba-eating brain. “He didn’t have a very slim chance, so I wish he had that slim chance, but I understand,” she told abc13. “But it was difficult.”

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention N. Faureli It is generally fatal, as only five survivors are known in North America. The latest survival time was the United States in 2016. In this case, the patient (a 16-year-old boy) was diagnosed within hours of arriving at the hospital.

Earlier this year N. Faureli It was increasing in the United States. CDC epidemiologist Jonathan Yoda told insiders in June that the first decades of amoeba tracking were found only in the southern hierarchy of the United States. I have never seen a case before, like Indiana, Minnesota, and Missouri. “

“There is concern that continued warming of water in northern states may increase the risk to those who are submerged in those states.”