Fourth brain-eating amoeba case of the year being treated ( Florida )

CNN ^ | 8/18/2016 | Debra Goldschmidt

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

An unidentified patient in Florida is being treated after being infected with a brain-eating amoeba last week, according to the Florida Department of Health. It is the fourth known case this year of infection by the parasite Naegleria fowleri. "We believe that the individual contracted the infection after swimming in unsanitary water on a single private property," said Mara Gambineri, the health department's communications director, noting that there is no risk to the general public.

The parasite is almost always deadly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 1962 and 2015 there were 138 known cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, the infection caused by the amoeba, and only three of those patients survived.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Individuals become infected when swimming in warm freshwater, such as a lake or river. The amoeba enters the nose and then goes to the brain, where it destroys brain tissue, causing swelling and death. Symptoms begin between one and nine days after exposure and include headache, fever, nausea and vomiting.

It can be confused with meningitis at first. Then a stiff neck, seizures and hallucinations begin as the infection becomes worse. Those infected die between one and 18 days after symptoms begin

[Gay State Conservative]

OK,folks...let's sing along:

WHEN IT'S FIESTA TIME,IN GUADALAJARA....

[Buckeye McFrog]

Makes Wrath of Khan seem positively pleasant by comparison.

[pepsi_junkie]

Fourth brain-eating amoeba case of the year being treated ( Florida )

Ah, so this explains how Hillary's polling has been improving in Florida.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

INFECTIOUS DISEASE PING

Fourth brain-eating amoeba case of the year being treated

Amoeba infected when swimming in warm freshwater, such as a lake or river ; symptoms included in the article

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Gay State Conservative :

" WHEN IT'S FIESTA TIME,IN GUADALAJARA...."

Your momma told you not to drink the water
Now you can't swim in it, either.
I wonder what the medical fallout of Rio will be ... ?

[antidisestablishment]

Swimming in Florida “fresh” water is asking for trouble. You can at least see the snakes and alligators most of the time, but all the waters here are breeding grounds for seriously nasty bugs. The only exception are freshwater springs which may ameliorate some of the nasties.

Of course most people, myself included, have swum in numerous suspect areas, but I was immortal back then.

[katana]

Could not help but think of this long ago episode of Night Gallery. In reality, the brain has no nerves of its own so pain would not necessarily be an issue. But other than that it's an awful diagnosis.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Until they get to Liberty County which is 85% Democrat.
Then they’ll all starve to death.

[EQAndyBuzz]

If it isn’t heavily chlorinated or overly salted, I want no part of it. I don’t even bother going after my golf balls anymore if they get too close to the water.

Then again, last time I hit a golf ball too close to the water, the poor duck sitting on the bank, mindlessly picking away at whatever was in the sand was eaten by an alligator.

[AdmSmith]

Good review article

Free-Living Amoebae as Hosts for and Vectors of Intracellular Microorganisms with Public Health Significance
Carsten Balczun and Patrick L. Scheid

Free-living amoebae (FLA) are parasites within both humans and animals causing a wide range of symptoms and act as hosts of, and vehicles for phylogenetically diverse microorganisms, called endocytobionts. The interaction of the FLA with sympatric microorganisms leads to an exceptional diversity within FLA. Some of these bacteria, viruses, and even eukaryotes, can live and replicate intracellularly within the FLA. This relationship provides protection to the microorganisms from external interventions and a dispersal mechanism across various habitats. Among those intracellularly-replicating or -residing organisms there are obligate and facultative pathogenic microorganisms affecting the health of humans or animals and are therefore of interest to Public Health Authorities. Mimiviruses, Pandoraviruses, and Pithoviruses are examples for interesting viral endocytobionts within FLA. Future research is expected to reveal further endocytobionts within free-living amoebae and other protozoa through co-cultivation studies, genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5408671/

table
Selection of microorganisms interacting with free-living amoebae (FLA), including pathogens with public health importance.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5408671/table/viruses-09-00065-t001/

[AdmSmith]

One of the viruses within https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthamoeba is https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Pandoravirus_salinus http://viralzone.expasy.org/4238 It has 2.5Mbp !

one of the smalles bacterium is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoarchaeum_equitans with only 0.49 Mbp

Amazing

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

(from the article):" According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 1962 and 2015 there were 138 known cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, the infection caused by the amoeba, and only three of those patients survived "

With a survival rate of only about 2 %, and given the fact that the amoeba can be found in any freshwater, I find it difficult to believe how little attention this disease has gotten.
Death results in as little as 1 to 18 days from when symptoms first arise; talk about 'sudden death' (!)
The amoeba may be small, but it has proven to be quite fatal.

[AdmSmith]

With on average just 2 - 3 cases per year it will not be on top of the priority list, until the numbers will increase. ZIKA is a at present take more attention.

The key thing is to make people interested in the subject. If I had time I would study this, parasites and virology is fun ;-)