Texas Brain-Eating Amoeba Found in City's Water Supply
About 30,000 residents in southeast Texas must boil their water before using it. This comes following a 6-year-old boy who died recently in the wake of getting an uncommon, brain-eating amoeba from the local water supply.
It is a freshwater parasite that is found all over the world. Scientifically called Naegleria, it is lethal, with a death rate higher than 97 percent. Its most recent casualty is Josiah McIntyre, who is only south of Houston.
Maria Castillo says her child probably got the amoeba from a local splash pad or the garden hose at their home in Lake Jackson. Splash pads can pose a risk if they do not have enough chlorine to kill harmful microorganisms.
Additionally, the municipal water system can sometimes be a source of contamination if not properly treated. An unexpected surge of side effects that began with a migraine at home ended with brain seizures and strokes in the hospital.
His death and positive samples from the health department set in motion a Do Not Use Water warning for eight area counties. That warning is presently only a boil order for Lake Jackson. On September 27th, Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a disaster declaration accordingly. The acute infectious disease unit played a key role in managing the outbreak and coordinating the public health response.
Josiah’s story is unusual. According to the CDC, there were 145 known cases from 1962 to 2018, but only four individuals survived. These are rare cases, and Naegleria fowleri infection is a rare infection.
“I’m lucky to be alive,” said Kali Hardig, a young lady from Arkansas who lived after fighting the brain-eating amoeba for 55 days.
Her story caused a ripple effect in 2013, making the undetectable microorganism famous.
“It’s generally when individuals are sprinkling in the water that they will jump; they go tubing, whatever will strongly push water up to your nose,” said Lou Kreidler, head of health with the Wichita Falls Health Department.
A couple of years prior, with a different case, the administrator of Texas’s Lake Arrowhead, Keith Gauthier, had this advisory:
“Stagnant water on warm days when there are no waves or wind, and the water’s very hot in temperature, avoid those areas,” said Gauthier. “Another thing you could do to avoid contracting this is to wear a nose clip or plug your nose wherever you go underwater.”
Josiah’s mom says her greatest message to other families is to know about the symptoms—headache, fever, vomiting, and changed mental state. She said it is uncommon. However, it is real, and it occurs. The death rate is extremely high, and nearly everyone who contracts the infection dies.
Introduction to the Issue
The recent death of a Texas woman from a brain-eating amoeba infection has brought renewed attention to the dangers lurking in contaminated tap water, especially when it comes to nasal irrigation.
This tragic case involved a healthy 71-year-old who developed primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rare but almost always fatal brain infection caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has emphasized that using untreated tap water for nasal irrigation can put individuals at risk for this deadly infection.
To reduce the risk of Naegleria fowleri infection, the CDC recommends using only distilled, sterilized, or boiled and cooled tap water for nasal irrigation. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of disease control and prevention, and the need for public awareness about the risks associated with the brain-eating amoeba in our water supply.
By understanding the dangers and following recommended prevention strategies, we can help protect ourselves and our families from this fatal brain infection caused by contaminated tap water.
What is Naegleria Fowleri?
Naegleria fowleri is a single-celled organism that thrives in warm freshwater environments such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs, particularly in southern states. This amoeba can infect people when contaminated water enters the nasal passages, often during activities like swimming, diving, or using a nasal irrigation device filled with contaminated tap water.
Once inside the nose, Naegleria fowleri infects people by traveling up the nasal passages to the brain, where it destroys brain tissue and causes severe neurologic symptoms. These symptoms can include fever, headache, and altered mental status, and the infection progresses rapidly, often leading to brain swelling and death if not treated immediately.
The fatality rate for Naegleria fowleri infection is extremely high, making prompt medical treatment critical. Because this infection is so rare and progresses rapidly, awareness and prevention are crucial in reducing the risk of exposure to this dangerous organism in warm freshwater and through the use of nasal irrigation.
5 Key Facts About Brain-Eating Amoeba
People normally become infected from warm freshwater lakes and rivers.
This amoeba likes to live in warm water, lakes, and rivers, like hot springs. The CDC says living beings may likewise be found in warm pools that are not appropriately chlorinated and in water heaters. Splash pads can also be a source of risk if not properly maintained, as insufficient chlorination can allow the amoeba to survive. It can live in temperatures as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) and sometimes at higher temperatures for brief periods.
In the United States, most brain-eating amoeba diseases happen in bodies of fresh water in the Southern states. Recreational water activities such as swimming, diving, and playing in splash pads or lakes can increase the risk of exposure, especially when water quality is not properly maintained. The CDC says contamination is generally common throughout the mid-year months, particularly when it is hot for extended periods.
Naegleria fowleri is not found in the sea.
The amoeba gets to the brain through the nose.
Individuals do not become infected with Naegleria fowleri by gulping water. Diseases happen when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose and enters the brain.
Activities that allow water containing the ameba to enter the nose, such as using tap water for nasal irrigation or improper maintenance of RV water systems, are a significant risk factor for infection. Once in the brain, the amoeba damages brain tissue, which brings about brain swelling and typically death, the CDC says.
Early manifestations, which include headache, fever, sickness, and vomiting, can occur one to nine days after contamination.
Contamination with this brain-eating amoeba is uncommon.
Only 37 cases of Naegleria fowleri contamination occurred in the United States from 2006 to 2015, even though the CDC indicates that many individuals swim yearly. For comparison, there were 34,000 drownings from 2001 to 2010.
Not many individuals survive these contaminations.
Infection with this brain-eating amoeba is almost consistently deadly. Of the 138 individuals who were contaminated with Naegleria fowleri in the United States somewhere between 1962 and 2015, only three survived (which implies the disease has a casualty rate of almost 98 percent), as indicated by the CDC.
The last individual to endure contamination with Naegleria fowleri was a 12-year-old girl in Arkansas who contracted the disease in 2013. Specialists treated her with various antifungal prescriptions, including an experimental medication called miltefosine, which was first developed to treat breast cancer, yet had also appeared to kill the amoeba in lab tests.
You can do a couple of things to lower your risk of contamination.
Scientists do not know how to eliminate natural Naegleria fowleri in lakes, rivers, and other freshwater sources. However, the CDC says that individuals who swim in warm freshwater should expect a low risk of contamination.
If you swim in warm freshwater, the CDC recommends avoiding water up to your nose by holding your nose closed, using nose plugs, or keeping your head above water.
What Happens When a Brain-Eating Amoeba 'Eats' Your Brain?
Research suggests that the brain-eating amoeba infection can be stopped if detected immediately. So what happens when you are infected with an N. fowleri?
The single-celled amoeba, suspended in water or settled in soil, enters the body when water goes up the nose. After connecting to the mucous membranes in the nasal cavity, N. fowleri dig out into the olfactory nerve, the structure that allows our sense of smell and leads straight to the brain.
It takes more than a drop of fluid to trigger a Naegleria infection. Infections mostly occur in individuals participating in water sports or activities that heavily saturate the nose with water, such as diving, waterskiing, and wakeboarding. Recreational exposure to contaminated water is a common way people become infected.
For reasons unknown, “brain-eating” is a pretty precise description of the amoeba’s behavior. After arriving at the olfactory bulbs, N. fowleri devours the tissue using suction-cup-like structures on its surface. This damage prompts the primary symptoms—loss of smell and taste—around five days after the contamination sets in.
From that point**, the microorganisms move to the rest of the brain**, first eating up the defensive covering that encompasses the central nervous system. When the body detects an infection, it sends immune cells to battle the infection, inflaming the surrounding area.
As opposed to the loss of brain tissue, this inflammation contributes most to the early symptoms of headache, nausea, vomiting, and stiff neck. Neck stiffness is due to inflammation, as the swelling around the spinal cord makes it difficult to use the muscles.
As N. fowleri eats more tissue and infiltrates further into the brain, the optional side effects set in. They include dizziness, hallucinations, confusion, and seizures. The olfactory nerve primarily influences the brain’s frontal lobes, which are associated with planning and emotional control.
The loss of grey matter does not cause death; instead, it is caused by the skull’s excessive pressure from the irritation and swelling associated with the body’s battle against the infection.
This expanding pressure powers the brain down to where the brain stem meets the spinal cord, ultimately cutting off the association between the two. Most patients die from subsequent respiratory failure within about fourteen days after symptoms start.
It Takes Months To Clear Texas's Lake Jackson of Brain-Eating Amoeba
An official has stated that it will take 60 days to guarantee that a brain-eating amoeba is cleared from a major Houston-area water system.
The state has now taken to distributing bottled water so residents can prevent exposure to the one-celled organism that seems to have just taken one life.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management allotted 6,500 cases of free bottled water.
Conclusion and Next Steps
The loss of a Texas woman to a brain-eating amoeba infection is a sobering reminder of the risks associated with contaminated tap water and improper nasal irrigation practices.
To prevent similar tragedies, it is crucial to use only distilled, sterilized, or boiled and cooled tap water for nasal irrigation, and to take additional precautions, such as wearing a nose clip, when swimming or diving in freshwater.
The Texas Department of State Health Services and the CDC both stress the importance of maintaining safe water systems and avoiding the use of contaminated tap water for any activity that could introduce water into the nose.
By staying informed, following disease control recommendations, and adopting safe water practices, we can significantly reduce the risk of Naegleria fowleri infection and protect ourselves from this rare but deadly brain-eating amoeba.
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