A woman in Texas died of a brain -eating infection that she is assumed to have affected herself by tap water.
The nameless woman, 71 years old, was killed last year by the Amoeba – a single -cell organism.
The health department of the province said that the person was probably infected when he washed their sinuses with tap water from the water system of a camper on a campsite.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said that tap water in the area is still safe to drink, because the Amoeba is rare and can only infect people through the nose.
However, experts say that the case “reinforces the potential for serious health risks that are accompanied by incorrect use of nasal irrigation devices, as well as the importance of maintaining RV water quality and to ensure that municipal water systems adhere to legal standards.”
The US only suffers a handful of killing by brain -eating Amoeba every year, usually among people swimming in warm water lakes and rivers.
The frightening deadly Amoeba – known as Naegleria Fowleri – kills 97 percent of the people who infect it. Only a handful of Americans once survived the infection.
The health department of Texas said that the person was probably infected when he washed his sinuses with tap water from the water system of a camper on a campsite
Texas is one of the states that have suffered the greatest burden of brain-eating Amoeba cases, with 39 of around 160 included in the US of all time in the Lone Star State.
The Amoeba causes a disease that is called primary amoebian Honenso -Encephalitis, also known as PAM or Amebian meningitis.
It thrives in warm water.
The first symptoms are headache, vomiting and nausea. A person can then experience cognitive problems and a neck of things as the things progress.
It causes severe swelling and ultimately rotting, from the brain and the spinal cord. This will almost always lead to death.
There are no known effective treatments for PAM.
In the recent case of Texas, the woman developed severe neurological symptoms, including fever, headache and changed mental status within four days of using a nasal irrigation device filled with the compromised tap water.
Despite the medical treatment, the patient developed attacks and then died eight days after the start of the symptoms.
Laboratory tests at CDC confirmed the presence of N. Fowleri in the patient’s brain and the spinal cord fluid.
Sinus coils is a practice in which a person flows water into his nose through one nostril and the other – in an attempt to clean mucus and other debris.
Local officials advise residents to boil water for at least a minute before they use it to wash their nose to kill persistent bacteria or harmful chemicals.
They also do not say to leave water in your nose while showering, bathing, swimming or in a bloated swimming pool, not to put your head under water in the bath, to prevent children with sprinklers from playing while you are without supervision and avoiding slip-and-slides.
This is not the first recent case that may be associated with water systems.
In 2020 a six -year -old boy died in Lake Jackson, Texas at Naegleria Fowleri.
Officials believe that he was infected while playing in a local Splashpad or from a water hose at home.
And in 2023 a man died in Charlotte County, Florida, after nasal rinsing with tap water.
The Amoeba, which is 1200 times smaller than a dime, enters the body through the smell nerve that connects the upper nose with the brain.
This gives it a short and direct route to the brain. If water with the Amoeba enters the nose, this will probably lead to infection.
Taking water through the mouth is ok because stomach acid is strong enough to kill the Amoeba. The nose is the only route.
Once the smell nerve of a person is exposed, it can take about one to nine days to experience symptoms. They will usually die within five days of symptoms that appear for the first time.
“It’s pretty fast, it’s very progressive. It literally eats the brain tissue, “Dr. Anjan Debnath, a parasitologist at the University of California San Diego.
Due to the rare infection, doctors also often diagnose incorrect diagnosis symptoms such as meningitis – which waste valuable time that can be used to treat the parasite.
Caleb Ziegelbauer (photo), 13, can be the fifth ever American who survives an infection of brain Amoeba
He describes the infection as participation in two phases. The first is relatively small, with the person experiencing headaches and other flu -like symptoms.
This means that unless a doctor knows that a person has swam in untreated water, they may not even suspect the Amoeba.
As soon as the symptoms reach the second phase, a person starts to experience serious neurological problems such as attacks.
A doctor will probably find out about the infection via a Spinal Fluid test.
America suffers around three cases of the Amoeba every year.
They will almost always take place in the summer, when many families come to local lakes and ponds for a daytime day.
Dr. Debnath still recommends swimming in untreated water in the summer, especially in places such as Florida and Texas, where temperatures are exceptionally high.
Because the Amoeba only lives in fresh water, swimming in the ocean is generally safe.
If families choose to visit a freshwater beach, everyone who enters the water must wear a nose clip to prevent water from entering their nose.
Dr. Debnath also recommends kicking dirt or sand from the bottom of the lake, since warmer areas are deep down where the microscopic beings are usually.
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