The cause? A brain-eating amoeba.Mitzi Kline, Franklin County Public Health’s director of communication, said Lauren Seitz, 18 years old, died of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) on Sunday, June 19.
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Between 1962 and 2014, 133 infections have been reported in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It “is commonly found in warm freshwater (e.g. lakes, rivers, and hot springs) and soil”. The victim was in a raft with several others that overturned at the whitewater center, state health officials said.
“The USNWC is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and the Mecklenburg County Health Department to investigate the matter further”.
The center says it adds chlorine to the system, which filters 12 million gallons a day, and also treats the water with enough ultraviolet radiation to “inactiviate” the type of amoeba thought to be responsible for the death.
But it can be fatal if forced up a person’s nose.
OH native Lauren Seitz had her whole life ahead of her. “That after the start of the symptoms, the disease generally causes death within about five days”.
It can be ingested through diving, using a water side or just swimming in contaminated water.
The infection has never been shown to have been spread from one person to another, the agency said.
The scientific name of the brain-eating amoeba is Naegleria fowleri. This may include headache, fever, nausea, or vomiting.
“The risk of Naegleria fowleri infection is very low”.
Only 37 people have contracted the amoeba in the past 10 years between 2006 and 2015, according to CDC statistics.
Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes a disease called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is usually fatal. Of 133 people known to have been infected since 1962, only three survived, according to the CDC’s website.
The N. fowleri infection “resulted in her developing a case of a meningitis. and inflaming of the brain and surrounding tissues, and unfortunately she died of this condition”, Mecklenburg County Health Department director Marcus Plescia told reporters Wednesday.
Q: Is the Whitewater Center still open? Chlorine is also used periodically. “Well, whenever you’re out there you just have to not try and breathe in the water”, said 16-year-old Cade Collins, who was enjoying a day at Sandling Beach at Falls Lake with his friends.
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You can not get the Naegleria fowleri infection from properly cleaned, maintained and disinfected swimming pools. People do not get infected by drinking tap water, but the amoeba was found in tap water in St. Bernard Parish near New Orleans in 2013 and again in 2015. As per the CDC, the infection is considered to be rare, yet deadly.
