SC resident infected with brain-eating amoeba with 95 percent death rate
Update:
A family member identified the brain-eating amoeba victim as 11-year-old Hannah Collins.
An aunt set up a GoFundMe page to help her mother pay for medical bills while she’s being treated at the Medical University of South Carolina.
A South Carolina resident is being treated for a “brain-eating amoeba” infection that kills 95 percent of those infected, according to health officials.
Lab tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the South Carolina resident was exposed to Naegleria fowleri, commonly referred to as brain-eating amoeba, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The announcement comes about a month after health officials determined an Ohio teenager contracted the amoeba at Charlotte’s Whitewater Center, causing the facility to close temporarily.
Naegleria fowleri – which is found naturally in warm fresh water, such as lakes, rivers and hot springs, and soil – can cause a serious brain infection with symptoms including severe headaches, changes in mental status, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck and death.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said health officials believe the exposure occurred July 24 while the individual was swimming in the Edisto River near Martins Landing in western Charleston County.
The Associated Press reported the patient is being treated at the Medical University of South Carolina hospital in Charleston.
DHEC officials said due to federal privacy restrictions, they cannot provide additional information about the patient.
Todd MacLaughlan, CEO of Profunda Inc., told the Associated Press that his Orlando, Fla., pharmaceutical company is rushing a drug that was used to treat a survivor Wednesday and that “time is of the essence.”
The drug is called miltefosine, which costs $48,000 for a round of treatment, and was used to treat a 12-year-old girl in Arkansas in 2013 who survived a brain-eating amoeba infection. Bell said the drug is not widely available, and it is difficult to determine commonalities between survivors.
“Even if I had specifics of the cases, which I do not, I think it would be difficult to draw conclusions because there have been so few infections,” she said.
The CDC reported there have been 37 infections between 2006 and 2015, and only three people have survived since 1962.
Bell said the last reported case of Naegleria fowleri in South Carolina was in 2012.
A brain-eating amoeba infection was blamed in the 2012 death of 8-year-old Blake Driggers of Sumter, according to a report from the Sumter Item. Blake died 10 days after jumping off of a dock at Lake Marion.
Bell said infection is very rare and contracting it requires very specific circumstances.
"First, you must be swimming in water in which the amoeba is present," she said. "Second, you must jump into the amoeba-containing water feet-first, allowing the water to go up your nose with enough force that the amoeba can make its way to the brain. Most commonly, exposure results in the amoeba dying before causing infection.”
Bell said its nickname of brain-eating amoeba is a misnomer because it does not actually consume the brain. Once it is introduced into the body through the nasal canal, it can invade the nerve endings in the lining, reach the brain and cause destruction. “People have this image of it devouring (the brain), but it’s a brain infection,” she said.
DHEC will not issue a swimming advisory at Martins Landing because the presence of the organism is ongoing and infection is so rare. Instead, DHEC urged recreational water users to assume the amoeba is present in warm freshwater across the country.
Bell said swimmers can take precautions by avoiding having water go up the nose by pinching it or using nose plugs and avoiding submersion for long periods of time. Health officials have not determined a way to control natural Naegleria fowleri levels in lakes and rivers.
Though testing for the amoeba is warranted when infections are suspected, the CDC generally does not recommend testing rivers and lakes for the amoeba because it is naturally occurring. The CDC also reported detection or concentration are not necessarily related to a risk of infection.
DHEC Public Information Officer Jim Beasley said while the amoeba is commonly present in freshwater, the potential risk for infection is extremely rare.
“While it may be out there in some bodies of water, we know that you have to do certain things to put in the body,” Beasley said. “If you take simple precautions, it really helps reduce risk of infection.”
Brain-eating amoeba symptoms
▪ Symptoms typically begin one to seven days after the infection occurs. However, it can be as many as 15 days before symptoms develop.
▪ Common symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck. Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations.
▪ Illness progresses rapidly, most often resulting in death in one to 12 days.
Source: SC DHEC
Clearing up Naegleria fowleri misconceptions:
▪ You cannot become infected by drinking water.
▪ The amoeba cannot survive in salt water.
▪ Though commonly called the brain-eating amoeba, it does not actually devour the brain. Instead, it damages the brain.
▪ Though infection is extremely rare, the amoeba is actually common in warm bodies of fresh water.
▪ It is sensitive to chlorine, though it can occur in pools with inadequate chlorine levels.
▪ The amoeba cannot be spread person to person.
Sources: State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell and CDC
Naegleria fowleri prevention:
▪ Avoid water-related activities in warm, untreated or poorly-treated water.
▪ Hold your nose shut or use nose clips when taking part in water-related activities.
▪ Avoid digging in or stirring up sediment surrounding warm, fresh water.
▪ Boil, disinfect or filter water properly when rinsing sinuses, including using neti pots. You can also purchase distilled or sterile water.
Source: SC DHEC and CDC
This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "SC resident infected with brain-eating amoeba with 95 percent death rate."