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Naegleria Fowleri

August 17, 2011 by · Comments Off on Naegleria Fowleri 

Naegleria FowleriNaegleria Fowleri, Naegleria fowleri, or “brain eating amoeba,” he killed his second in a month. Strickland Christian Alexander, 9, Henrico County, was infected after swimming in a fishing camp in Virginia.

Donnie Strickland, his aunt, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that “the doctor described [bacterial infection] as a small chance that not even think it would be possible.”

When asked by the Times-Dispatch, the health department officials confirmed only one case of meningitis and infection by Naegleria hunter and would not comment on the case of Strickland.

“Unfortunately, we had a Naegleria infection in Virginia this summer,” said Dr. Keri Hall, state epidemiologist at the Virginia Department of Health, the Times-Dispatch. “It’s important that people be aware of the messages … swim safely.”

Kills bacteria as it moves into the body through the nose and destroys brain tissue. Infections usually result in meningitis.

ABC News reported earlier this month, Courtney Nash, 16, died of an infection with Naegleria fowleri in Florida after a swim in the river San Juan. She was diving from a pier with her family.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statement on the Naegleria fowleri amoeba states that “enters the nostrils … and migrate to the olfactory nerves, eventually invade the brain.”

“From 1995 to 2004, N. Hunter killed 23 people in the United States, including two children in Phoenix, Arizona, area in 2002, which had been exposed to well water but had not consumed. There have been six documented deaths in 2007, all in warmer regions (Arizona, Texas, Florida), “the statement continued.

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