Brain-eating warning

Brain-eating warning has been issued by the Department of Health in Florida this week after an amoeba parasite that devours brain cells resurfaced earlier in Aug., affecting a 12-year-old boy while he had been out swimming with friends, MyFox8 reported this Thursday, Aug. 15, The rare, “brain-eating” amoeba, though often fatal, can be countered if caught quickly enough.

The brain-eating warning has been officially made for lake and natural freshwater swimmers in the state of Florida. According to the statement, the dangerous parasite is known as Naegleria fowleri, and finds a most likely breeding ground when water temperatures are high and water levels are low. The Florida Department of Health wrote that public swimmers should keep watch, as true to its name, this parasite does indeed devour cells in the brain that can lead to coma and death.

“[The public] must be wary when swimming, jumping or diving in freshwater within such conditions.”
According to the family of the 12-year-old boy, Zachary, who was afflicted by the brain-eating amoeba, the 7th grader first caught the parasite while out playing with his friends in a ditch filled with water this Aug. The next day, he felt exhausted, and slept almost all day. As a 7th grader, his family grew worried at seeing their normally active son so lethargic.

He was taken to a local hospital, where Naegleria fowleri was found within his brain, and he quickly underwent brain surgery. Doctors had diagnosed him then with a condition known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, and heremains in Miami Children’s Hospital’s intensive care unit.

An experimental drug used to counter the brain-eating parasite that found success recently this year in another 12-year-old victim, Kali Hardig of Ark., has been administered to Zachary. His family hopes that he will be the fourth victim to survive the normally fatal attack, and hopes that the brain-eating warning will help keep other children safe.

“He’s strong,” his brother, Brandon, said. “He’s really, really strong.”
Naegleria fowleri infections are very rare, as only 32 have been counted in the past decade, but swimmers are still warned to stay safe.

source: http://www.examiner.com/article/brain-eating-warning-amoeba-devours-brain-cells-warning-issued-by-florida