Re: Girl 12 in critical condition with brain eating Amoeba

This is one of those cases where the chances of anything happening are very, very, very low ... but if it does happen, it's over. I guess it's a personal choice but a cheap nose piece would certainly resolve the issue. The fact is nobody really knows why thousands of people are exposed to it, even after inhaling contaminated water, and nothing happens ... and then you hear about an incident here and there and it puts things into perspective.

The statistics don't line up either and are non-conclusive because of such a small rate of cases reported. Most cases happened to males and mostly to young children or young adults. But that doesn't mean anything as these are the likely groups who would tend to frequent water holes. FL and TX had the most number of incidents as well, but then there were isolated incidents further north than scientists thought it wouldn't be an issue, so that made the data more confusing. Finally, there was a case whereby it was caught from tap water at a home. I also read one report that claimed 70% of all lakes and water sources in the US/Mex/Canada have the organism.

The thing is, because of the 99.9% fatality rate, it is one of the most dangerous organisms, at least to us. My understanding as well is that it tends to feed on bacteria close to the bottom of the water source, in places like sand and mud, so some of the reports I read tell folks to avoid stirring up the sediment. The only conclusive thing seemed to be that it's rare, deadly and finally that the organism will not survive in salt water and is harmless if swallowed directly (this statement clearly backed by the CDC).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2013 01:30PM by mohave.