A man infected with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, in Missouri has died, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported Wednesday.
The man died Tuesday at a St. Louis-area hospital.
The man contracted the illness after being exposed to a “brain-eating” amoeba. The infection kills brain cells very rapidly and is usually deadly. However, the infection is extremely rare.
MU Health Care infectious disease specialist Christian Rojas Moreno said there are billions of exposures to the amoeba every year, but those exposures result in 10 or fewer cases annually.
The key risk factor is exposure to warm, fresh water, which patients have typically encountered during recreational water activities. The state health department said the man who died had been water skiing at the Lake of the Ozarks in the days before he became ill.
File image of the Lake of the Ozarks. A Missouri adult was diagnosed with a “brain-eating” infection after water skiing at the lake, but health officials have not confirmed the patient contracted the amoeba at the lake.
The health department did not indicate there is reason to avoid any particular body of water, though — and Rojas Moreno said the amoeba is everywhere.
“This amoeba is present pretty much everywhere, especially in warm, fresh water,” Rojas Moreno said. “So, it is there, especially during summertime in high temperatures. There is a risk, but it is a low risk — very low risk.”
Symptoms of ‘brain-eating’ amoeba
A Missouri adult is in intensive care after contracting a “brain-eating” amoeba, health officials say.
Rojas Moreno said symptoms of the “brain-eating” infection typically start as a headache and progress. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said people who experience the following symptoms after swimming in a warm body of water should seek medical attention:
- Severe headache
- Fever
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Stiff neck
- Seizures
- Altered mental status
- Hallucinations
Symptoms typically start between one and 12 days after the exposure, Rojas Moreno said.
Patients with these symptoms will likely be checked for other, more common causes of brain infections before a physician checks for the amoeba, Rojas Moreno said. Because the infection is so rare, Rojas Moreno said physicians likely won’t check for the amoeba first unless the patient has a clear history of exposure to it in warm, fresh water.
Rojas Moreno emphasized that people can prevent the infection by avoiding bodies of warm, fresh water. If exposure to a body of water like this is unavoidable, Rojas Moreno said people should hold their nose or use nose clips to try and prevent water from entering the nose.
The infection cannot be caused by swallowing water that contains the amoeba, according to the state health department.
“It’s difficult to predict when it will happen again, but potentially there is amoeba in any body of warm, fresh water,” Rojas Moreno said.
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