A woman has died after being infected by a brain-eating amoeba, which the CDC believes happened
after she cleaned her sinuses with tap water at a campground in Texas.
The CDCs report says the 71 -year-old woman fell ill within four days of using the water from an RV at
the campground.
Texas Brain-Eating Amoeba Death
What we know:
According to the Center of Disease Control’s Morbity and Mortality Weekly Report, which was made public on Thursday, their investigation found that the woman died from a brain infection caused by primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
The woman, who they say was healthy before the infection, reportedly used a nasal irrigation device filled with tap water from an RV’s water system at a campground in Texas. The CDC says she used the water for that purpose several times without boiling it during the four days before she began to notice symptoms.
The report says she developed severe neurologic symptoms, including fever, headache, and altered mental status. She died eight days after her symptoms began.
What we don’t know:
The report says the RV’s water tank had been filled sometime before the victim purchased the RV three months prior to her death. The location where it was filled is not known.
The exact campground or general area in Texas where the woman was infected has not been reported.
According to the CDC, no samples they tested from the campsite and RV water sources were found to have the amoeba present. Their report gives guesses for how the woman may have been infected by the available water sources, but ultimately, the amoeba was not confirmed to still be in any of the water sources at the time of testing.
What is Brain-Eating Amoeba?
PAM is a rare, often fatal brain infection caused by the free-living amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, the CDC says.
Those who are infected by the amoeba have typically recently participated in recreational water activities, but the CDC says nasal irrigation has also been a known risk for infection.
Those who are infected by the amoeba have typically recently participated in recreational water activities, but the CDC says nasal irrigation has also been a known risk for infection.
Reducing Risk of Infection
What you can do:
The CDC offers the following methods of prevention for avoiding PAM:
- Hold your nose or wear a nose clip if you are jumping or diving into fresh water.
- Always keep your head above water in hot springs.
- Don’t dig in shallow water, because the amoeba is more likely to live there.
- Use distilled or boiled tap water when rinsing your sinuses or cleansing your nasal passages.
