NewsDesk @bactiman63
In a follow-up on a report from July 8, the Des Moines Register reports that a Missouri resident who contracted the “brain-eating amoeba”, Naegleria fowleri after swimming at the Lake of Three Fires State Park near Taylor County, Iowa has died.
Public health officials strongly believe the lake is the likely source of the infection, but it’s not confirmed.
The patient was being treated for the infection in an intensive care unit before dying.
Primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) is a disease of the central nervous system. PAM is caused by Naegleria fowleri, a free-living ameba. It is a rare disease that is almost always fatal; only four people (one in 1978, 2 in 2013 and one in 2016) in the U.S. out of 154 have survived infection from 1962 to 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The only other case identified among a Missouri resident occurred in 1987.
The story on the 2016 survivor, Sebastian DeLeon:
Arlington, Texas: Child dies from Naegleria fowleri infection, Linked to splash pad
Naegleria fowleri with Steve Smelski
Confirmed: North Carolina child dies from Naegleria fowleri infection
California boy dies from Naegleria fowleri infection
Costa Rica reports Naegleria fowleri case, 2nd case in history
