According to health officials and the county coroner, an Arkansas toddler passed away from a rare brain-eating amoeba infection that was most likely picked up at a splash pad at a country club.
The Arkansas Department of Health said in a news release on Thursday that the victim passed away as a result of Naegleria fowleri infection, which “destroys brain tissue, causes brain swelling and in some cases, death.”
An amoeba called Naegleria fowleri inhabits soil as well as warm freshwater ponds, lakes, rivers, and hot springs.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Naegleria fowleri infections have occasionally been contracted from recreational water with insufficient chlorine levels, such as pools, splash pads, or surf parks.
Infections with Naegleria fowleri are uncommon. The CDC estimates that only three Americans are infected each year, but the outcome is typically death.
According to Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs, who spoke to CNN on Friday, the 16-month-old boy in the Arkansas case passed away on September 4 after spending a few days in the hospital.
Testing and inspections by the state health department revealed that the victim was probably exposed at the splash pad at the Country Club of Little Rock.
The announcement stated that the CDC has received numerous samples from the splash pad and pool for analysis. One sample from a splash pad was discovered by the CDC to contain viable Naegleria fowleri, while the other samples are still pending.
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Waterborne Danger
According to Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs, who spoke to CNN on Friday, the 16-month-old boy in the Arkansas case passed away on September 4 after spending a few days in the hospital.
Testing and inspections by the state health department revealed that the victim was probably exposed at the splash pad at the Country Club of Little Rock.
The announcement stated that the CDC has received numerous samples from the splash pad and pool for analysis. One sample from a splash pad was discovered by the CDC to contain viable Naegleria fowleri, while the other samples are still pending.
According to the CDC, this form of amoeba enters the body by the nose, usually when people swim, dive, or submerge their heads in freshwater bodies.
The primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) infection, which is virtually invariably fatal, is brought on by the amoeba’s ascent to the brain, which destroys brain tissue.
An infection with Naegleria fowleri cannot be passed from one person to another.
According to the CDC, PAM symptoms can appear one to 12 days after infection, however they often appear five days after infection. Some of the symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache, and fever.
Confusion, a stiff neck, a loss of awareness of one’s surroundings and surrounding persons, seizures, hallucinations, and coma are examples of later symptoms.
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Source:CNN
