A man in US' Georgia has died from a rare brain infection, commonly known as the “brain-eating amoeba”, NBC News reported. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, he was likely infected while swimming in a freshwater lake or pond.
''A Georgia resident has died from Naegleria fowleri infection, a rare infection which destroys brain tissue, causing brain swelling and usually death. The individual was likely infected while swimming in a freshwater lake or pond in Georgia,'' the health department said in a news release.
Details about the patient including name, age, sex, and race/ethnicity were not provided.
"The amoeba is naturally occurring, and there is no routine environmental test for Naegleria fowleri in bodies of water; and because it is very common in the environment, levels of the amoebas that naturally occur cannot be controlled. The location and number of amoebas in the water can vary over time within the same body of water,'' health officials said.
Prior to this case, there have been five other cases of Naegleria fowleri reported in Georgia since 1962.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the health agency of the United States, Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba (single-celled living organism) that lives in soil and warm fresh water, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs.
It is called "brain-eating amoeba" because it can cause a brain infection when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose, usually during swimming. It is a rare disease, however, it is almost always fatal.
Infection occurs when water containing Naegleria fowleri enters the nose and the amoeba migrates to the brain through the olfactory nerve. It is to be noted that people are not infected by drinking contaminated water if it doesn't go up the nose.
Severe frontal headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, seizures, hallucinations and coma are some of the symptoms caused by the amoeba. Symptoms begin to appear about five days following infection but can also show in one to 12 days.
Last month, a two-year-old boy in Nevada, United States, also died from the infection. Woodrow Bundy's family believed that the infection "infiltrated his body while playing in the water in Ash Springs", as per a report in New York Post.
