The Florida Department of Health confirmed a case of what is commonly known as a brain-eating amoeba in the Tampa area. According to the department, a person in Hillsborough County hired Naegleria fowleri, which is a single-celled amoeba that attacks brain tissue and is usually fatal.
Since 1962, there have only been 37 cases of Naegleria fowleri in Florida, according to the Department of Health. Only four people of the 145 known infected individuals in the US have survived, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Naegleria fowleri is contacted when contaminated water enters a person’s nose and is found in warm temperate fresh water such as lakers, rivers, and hot springs, according to the CDC. Its peak season in Florida is July, August and September, the Health Department said, and it grows best at temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
It is also possible to hire Naegleria fowleri in pools that are not properly chlorinated or contaminated. A person cannot contract Naegleria fowleri from drinking contaminated water, as they only contract through the nose.
Symptoms of a Naegleria fowleri include severe frontal headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting. Later symptoms may also include stiff neck, seizures, altered mental status, hallucinations, and coma.
Signs of infection generally begin a few days after swimming or other nasal exposure to contaminated water. People die within 1 to 18 days after symptoms begin.
Anyone with symptoms should seek medical attention immediately, especially if the symptoms appear after swimming in warm fresh water. The four people known to have survived an infection detected it in its early stages.
The Florida Department of Health did not elaborate on where this case was contracted or on the patient’s condition.
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