Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

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DrPhoxinus
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Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#1 Post by DrPhoxinus » Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:48 pm


Dubious
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#2 Post by Dubious » Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:11 pm

Scary, for sure. Contrary to what the article says, however, this brain eating amoeba--naegleria fowleri--is not rare at all; it is quite common--found just about everywhere in lakes, rivers, soil... What is rare is for it to kill people; but even there, there may actually be more deaths than are attributed to the amoeba. Bottom line: neti pot users should not use tap water, and those who swim in lakes and rivers should consider nose plugs.

As stated at https://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba:

Even though N. fowleri amoebas are relatively common, they only rarely cause brain disease. N. fowleri disease is known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It occurs from zero to eight times a year, almost always from July to September.

It's considered a rare infection. But some cases may be unreported. A study in Virginia that looked at more than 16,000 autopsy records from patients who died of meningitis found five previously unreported cases of PAM.

Studies show that many people may have antibodies to N. fowleri. That suggests that they became infected with the amoeba but that their immune systems fought it off.

It's not at all clear whether N. fowleri is a rare infection that always causes PAM and is almost always fatal, or a more common infection that only sometimes causes PAM.

In a 2009 study, CDC researchers suggested that the common finding of antibodies to the amoeba in humans and the frequent finding of N. fowleri in U.S. waters indicates "that exposure to the amoeba is much more common than the incidence of PAM suggests."

DrPhoxinus
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#3 Post by DrPhoxinus » Fri Aug 19, 2022 12:01 am

Here
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imkap
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#4 Post by imkap » Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:56 am

:shock: I didn't know this existed... :shock: Poor child
I don't swim in freshwater much, but next time there will be no diving...
Last edited by imkap on Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

Alexander
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#5 Post by Alexander » Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:56 am

DrPhoxinus wrote:
Fri Aug 19, 2022 12:01 am
Here
Excellent shot! How did you stain the amoeba?

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imkap
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#6 Post by imkap » Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:58 am

Yes, excellent shot. I didn't realise you shot it. Is this the brain eater?

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Wes
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#7 Post by Wes » Fri Aug 19, 2022 5:52 pm

Alexander wrote:
Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:56 am
DrPhoxinus wrote:
Fri Aug 19, 2022 12:01 am
Here
Excellent shot! How did you stain the amoeba?
That looks like a drawing.
Zeiss Photomicroscope III BF/DF/Pol/Ph/DIC/FL/Jamin-Lebedeff
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Tom Jones
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#8 Post by Tom Jones » Fri Aug 19, 2022 8:04 pm

An illustration. It's on the CDC's main page about Naegleria. A bunch of other pages, too.

Dubious
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Re: Brain eating amoeba kills child inNebraska

#9 Post by Dubious » Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:16 am

Dubious wrote:
Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:11 pm
Scary, for sure. Contrary to what the article says, however, this brain eating amoeba--naegleria fowleri--is not rare at all; it is quite common--found just about everywhere in lakes, rivers, soil... What is rare is for it to kill people; but even there, there may actually be more deaths than are attributed to the amoeba. Bottom line: neti pot users should not use tap water, and those who swim in lakes and rivers should consider nose plugs.

As stated at https://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba:

Even though N. fowleri amoebas are relatively common, they only rarely cause brain disease. N. fowleri disease is known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It occurs from zero to eight times a year, almost always from July to September.

It's considered a rare infection. But some cases may be unreported. A study in Virginia that looked at more than 16,000 autopsy records from patients who died of meningitis found five previously unreported cases of PAM.

Studies show that many people may have antibodies to N. fowleri. That suggests that they became infected with the amoeba but that their immune systems fought it off.

It's not at all clear whether N. fowleri is a rare infection that always causes PAM and is almost always fatal, or a more common infection that only sometimes causes PAM.

In a 2009 study, CDC researchers suggested that the common finding of antibodies to the amoeba in humans and the frequent finding of N. fowleri in U.S. waters indicates "that exposure to the amoeba is much more common than the incidence of PAM suggests."
More news of a death caused by naegleria fowleri, the "brain eating amoeba":

Las Vegas teen dies from brain-eating amoeba as experts warn against panic
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -lake-mead

Once again, the article gives the false impression that naegleria fowleri is rare (it actually lives just about everywhere):

"“I wouldn’t say there’s an alarm to sound for this,” Labus said. “People need to be smart about it when they’re in places where this rare amoeba actually lives.” The organism is found in waters ranging from 77F (25C) to 115F (46C), he said."

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