A Las Vegas boy lost his life after contracting a brain-eating amoeba. He might have been exposed while at Lake Mead, according to officials.
The deadly amoebas can be found in fresh, warm water bodies and enter the brain via the nose.
According to the Southern Nevada Health District, a rare brain-eating amoeba infected a Las Vegas kid who died.
According to the government, the youngster, who was under 18, may have been exposed at Lake Mead on the Arizona side of the lake.
The Naegleria fowleri amoeba, as it is known medically, enters the nose and moves up through the brain to infect people. The infection causes enlargement of the brain and death by destroying brain tissue.
Swallowing it will not cause infection, and the infection is not spread from person to person.
According to the health district, the boy started experiencing symptoms about a week after going to Lake Mead in early October. Headaches, fever, and nausea are among the early signs of the condition. As it progresses, a stiff neck, seizures, and hallucinations also appear.
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According to the agency, the infection is very uncommon but almost invariably fatal. Four people who contracted the disease in the US between 1962 and 2021 survived.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas and Florida have seen the highest number of reported cases, and this is only the second death brought on by the amoeba in Nevada.
According to epidemiologists, the news of the boy’s death shouldn’t inspire fear.
The brain-eating amoeba “gets people’s attention because of the name,” according to Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist who now teaches at the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but it is a “very, very rare disease.”
Labus told the newspaper, “I wouldn’t say there’s an alarm to ring for this.” People must exercise caution while in areas where this unusual amoeba is present.
According to the Southern Nevada Health District, steps can be taken to reduce infection risk. The amoeba is often found in freshwater lakes of warm water.
Avoid diving or disturbing up sediment in shallow warm freshwater pools of water, keep your head above the water, and avoid jumping into warm bodies of freshwater.
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