Events Calendar
In This Section
Appeals court expands lawmakers' protection
Value of eavesdropping program in dispute
U.S. doesn't act after Taliban POWs die
Women's groups silent about Sotomayor
Attempt to beat train ends five young lives
Golfer sentenced for assault with club
Maryland dad left loving notes to wife, 3 kids he shot
Most Read Stories
Akron police investigate teen mob attack on family
Man found hanging at playground in Stow
Family is proud of late son's gift
Man shot in back near Akron park
Robbery suspect's body left at Akron hospital
Varejao's $50 million deal isn't really $50 million
FBI asked to investigate attack on white family near Firestone Park
Woman, 75, charged with beating fawn to death
Blogs:
Pets:
Zeke, the basketball playing dog
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Dwayne Wade says no to Cleveland
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Kent State
Browns Bulletin:
Quick thought on Browns rookies
Tribe Matters:
Now is no time to quit
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Andy’s Signed According to ESPN
All Da King's Men:
Baby Got Barack !
Blog of Mass Destruction:
As California Goes?
Akron Law Café:
Why do public officials violate Ohio Ethics Laws?
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ontko selects Wisconsin
See Jane Style:
Oh Baby!
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Closings….Not the Good Kind!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Margy inquires-when is a Taste of Hudson?
Sound Check:
LeVert II live performance Saturday night — "Dedication" album due July 13,
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
Video game sales drop in May
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.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
