Deadly Brain-Eating Amoeba Strikes Again: What You Need to Know

The headlines sound like something out of a science fiction-horror movie:

Fourth Brain-Eating Amoeba Case of the Year Being Treated

Is There a Brain-Eating Amoeba in Utah?

S.C. Girl Dies After Contracting Brain-Eating Amoeba in River

Brain-Eating Amoeba Detected in Waters of Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park

We are told cases are rare, but the stories are enough to make one want to avoid the water forever.

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This summer, so far there have been four reported cases of infection with the deadly brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria fowleri.

Currently, an unidentified person in Florida is being treated for infection, CNN reported today.

And just last week, Hannah Collins, 11, of South Carolina, died after contracting Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is a severe brain infection caused by the amoeba.

Hannah was likely exposed to the organism on July 24 while swimming near Martin’s Landing on the Edisto River in Charleston County, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said in a news release.

She is the second person to die after contracting PAM in the Carolinas this summer. In June, 18-year-old Lauren Steiz of Westerville, Ohio, died after contracting the amoeba infection at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The high school senior had visited the water park on a church trip. At one point, she was riding on a raft that overturned, health officials said.

In July, the amoeba claimed the life of Hudson Adams, a 19-year-old who became infected at a Texas lake.

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Ninety-seven percent of people who contract the disease don’t survive.

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