Brain-Eating Amoeba in Lake Havasu

[Neen273]

Lake Havasu teen 6th person this year killed by brain-eating amoeba

It seemed like a headache, nothing more. But when pain killers and a trip to the emergency room didn't fix Aaron Evans, the 14-year-old asked his dad if he was going to die.

"No, no," David Evans remembers saying. "We didn't know. And here I am: I come home and I'm burying him."

What was bothering Aaron was an amoeba, a microscopic organism called Naegleria fowleri that attacks the body through the nasal cavity, quickly eating its way to the brain. The doctors said he probably picked it up a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0926killer-amoeba0926-ON.html

{{{{{{{{{Shudder}}}}}}}}}

[SisterNChrist]

Hey! I'm a LHC, AZ resident, who also has swum in Lake Havasu, but nothing like that has ever happened to me. I'm perfectly healthy! So I don't really think that this teenage lad's death can be truly blamed on our lake. It could've come from a different source.

[JenGC]

OK! No more swimming for me or my daughter! It may not be true, but what is the saying?? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

[HSmomto4]

Hey! I'm a LHC, AZ resident, who also has swum in Lake Havasu, but nothing like that has ever happened to me. I'm perfectly healthy! So I don't really think that this teenage lad's death can be truly blamed on our lake. It could've come from a different source.

:doh You are kidding right??? This is very real and very serious!! You don't swim in warm still water in the summer unless you want to die a horrible death. That’s the rule most Floridians live by. This kills people every year in our state. If people were smart they would stay out of lakes from mid July to October.

[Cd4u_2]

Hey! I'm a LHC, AZ resident, who also has swum in Lake Havasu, but nothing like that has ever happened to me. I'm perfectly healthy! So I don't really think that this teenage lad's death can be truly blamed on our lake. It could've come from a different source.

They say because of warmer weather, there are more Amoeba cases now.

I would still be careful. You probably was ok because you didn't accidentally snort water up your nose. They say to wear a nose plug and don't swallow any water to be safe.

[SisterNChrist]

:doh You are kidding right??? This is very real and very serious!! You don't swim in warm still water in the summer unless you want to die a horrible death. That’s the rule most Floridians live by. This kills people every year in our state. If people were smart they would stay out of lakes from mid July to October.

It was way back in Aug. 2001, that I last swum in Lake Havasu, but we used those noodles to keep us afloat in the water. I haven't been in the lake since, but my SIL has. Nothing happened to her. Since then, I've swum in my auntie & uncle's swimming pool. Otherwise, I stayed indoors where with our ACs cooling our homes, when I wasn't driving into town to drop off my brother's Ebay packages at the P.O..

Incidentally, Lake Havasu, is part of the Colorado River.

[lilbitsyspider]

:shocked How horrible to take your kid out for some fun and turned out to be fatal.

[zhan]

Hey! I'm a LHC, AZ resident, who also has swum in Lake Havasu, but nothing like that has ever happened to me. I'm perfectly healthy! So I don't really think that this teenage lad's death can be truly blamed on our lake. It could've come from a different source.

Refusing to admit to a problem means you're less likely to take precautions, meaning you're more likely to become a victim.

Up here we have to worry about algae blooms leaving the lakes full of cyanide and fatal to drink/swallow from:
http://www.montanastandard.com/articles/2007/09/13/state_top/20070913_state_top.txt

Interestingly enough, being from NC this is the first I've ever heard of the amoeba zombie (brrraaaaiiinnnsss), but it's apparently a historical thing in warm climates.

[Neen273]

the amoeba zombie (brrraaaaiiinnnsss)

:pound:pound:pound

[heybales219]

this is the first I've ever heard of the amoeba zombie (brrraaaaiiinnnsss)

:pound:pound:pound

I don't think this is something we should make light of.

I believe the article says that the amoeba resides in the bottom of warm bodies of water and as more people swim, etc. it stirs up the water and cause the amoeba to rise from the bottom towards the surface, making it more easily acquired.