Child in Nebraska suspected to have died from a rare case of brain-eating amoeba, health officials say.
in Nebraska's Elkhorn River on Sunday. The child became ill soon after and died this week, according to the Douglas County Health Department. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting further testing to confirm.
"We can only imagine the devastation this family must be feeling, and our deepest condolences are with them," the Douglas County health director, Dr. Lindsay Huse, said in a statement Wednesday. "We can honor the memory of this child by becoming educated about the risk and then taking steps to prevent infection."
Naegleria fowleri is a rare but deadly amoeba that lives in warm freshwater, such as lakes, ponds, rivers and hot springs. The single-celled organism can infect people when water containing the amoeba travels up the nose and reaches the brain, usually while swimming or diving. People do not become infected from drinking contaminated water or swimming in a pool that is properly chlorinated, according to the CDC.The fatality rate for Naegleria fowleri infections is over 97%.
Health officials in Nebraska are urging residents to take precautions since Naegleria fowleri is being identified further north"Infections typically occur later in the summer, in warmer water with slower flow, in July, August, and September. Cases are more frequently identified in southern states but more recently have been identified farther north," Nebraska's state epidemiologist, Dr. Matthew Donahue, said in a statement Wednesday.
People should also use only sterile, distilled or lukewarm previously boiled water for nasal irrigation or sinus flushes, health officials said.
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