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Quake rattles Big Bear Lake, Calif.
Atlantic City fire traced to pizza shop
U.S. agency investigating radiation at Three Mile Island
Daughter born as astronaut dad circles Earth
Health reform passes hurdle in Senate
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Hasan to stay in confinement till court-martial
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Does it work? Test team returns to try out new products advertised on television
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns vs. Lions live …
Akron Zips:
Akron trounces Howard to reach .500
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Robiskie, Harrison inactive
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Sunday Sanity Challenge
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
A Random Rant on Testing
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Brain-eating organisms in warm, stagnant lakes infect through nostrils
By Chris Kahn Associated Press
Published on Saturday, Sep 29, 2007
PHOENIX: It seemed like a headache, nothing more. But when painkillers and a trip to the emergency room didn't fix Aaron Evans, 14, he asked his dad if he was going to die.
''No, no,'' David Evans remembered saying.
''We didn't know. And here I am: I come home and I'm burying him,'' the grieving father said.
What was bothering Aaron was a killer amoeba that enters the body through the nose and travels to the brain, where it feeds, destroying brain tissue.
Doctors said the teen probably picked up the microscopic amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, a week earlier while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu near his home on the state's western line.
Such attacks are rare but they are usually fatal, and six boys and young men have died this year in three states. Aaron Evans' death Sept. 17 was the most recent. Some health officials have put their communities on high alert, telling people to stay away from warm, standing water.
''This is definitely something we need to track,'' said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
''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, Naegleria killed 23 people in the United States from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials say they've noticed a spike in cases, with three in Florida, two in Texas and Aaron Evans' death in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.
Naegleria lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment.
Beach said people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose say, by doing a cannonball off a cliff the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve.
People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers, Beach said. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage, such as hallucinations and behavioral changes.
There is no good treatment. Some drugs have stopped Naegleria in lab experiments, but people who have been infected rarely survive, Beach said.
''Usually, from initial exposure, it's fatal within two weeks,'' Beach said.
Researchers still have much to learn about Naegleria. They don't know why, for example, children are more likely to be infected, and boys are more often victims than girls.
''Boys tend to have more boisterous activities (in water), but we're not clear,'' Beach said.
The easiest way to prevent infection, Beach said, is to use nose clips when swimming or diving in fresh water.
In central Florida, authorities started an amoeba phone hot line advising people to avoid warm, standing water and areas with algae blooms.
Texas health officials also have issued warnings.
PHOENIX: It seemed like a headache, nothing more. But when painkillers and a trip to the emergency room didn't fix Aaron Evans, 14, he asked his dad if he was going to die.
Get the full article here.
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