AMOEBA ?????

[kana12]

i think this is how you spell it. well down here in texas they are saying that this little paracite lives in warm water and enters trough your nose or ear and feeds on you brain until you die.. normally within two weeks. 99 % of the time fatal. there have been like 4 cases in texas and one in florida and one in arazoina. any one have any literature on this .. kind of freaking me out about getting in the water.. not trying to scare any one but this is a real scare here in central texas and are posting signs and rumors talking of even closing one lake period..
thanks

will

[LovinPowell]

You might want to check out this thread on the subject.

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5281

[spharis]

Stay out of the warm stagnant water and you will be fine. This has always been there, only it is showing up in the news b/c they don't have much else to talk about and for whatever reason there are more cases this year.

[dogbert]

i think this is how you spell it. well down here in texas they are saying that this little paracite lives in warm water and enters trough your nose or ear and feeds on you brain until you die.. normally within two weeks. 99 % of the time fatal. there have been like 4 cases in texas and one in florida and one in arazoina. any one have any literature on this .. kind of freaking me out about getting in the water.. not trying to scare any one but this is a real scare here in central texas and are posting signs and rumors talking of even closing one lake period..
thanks

will

Check out my other thread entitled Heads up in Florida. Also, it's 3 cases in Florida, two here in Texas on Lake LBJ and one in Arizona on Lake Havasu.

[Ruune]

Two cases this year on Lake LBJ. Amoebic meningitis is caused by Naegleria fowleri, which enters through the sinuses. It then spreads to the meninges (membrane that surrounds the brain, hence the word "meningitis."), the brain, and the spinal cord. This causes the brain and/or spinal cord to swell and cause fatal damage.

Is it fatal? Absolutely. 9 times out of 10, the infection is fatal. I'm not throwing up random percentages here- literally the last 9 out of 10 cases resulted in death. Dont know where "99%" came from.

How long does the infection take to progress? It depends. Infection can prove fatal in anywhere from a few hours to a couple of weeks. The latest case on lake LBJ, the 12-year old boy was admitted on 8/10/2007 and died on 8/15/2007. Thats 5 days later.

I work for the parent agency to Texas Dept. of State Health Services (DSHS), who deals with these cases in Texas. You can find more info here:
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/releases/20050914.shtm
http://www.cdc.gov/Ncidod/dpd/parasi..._naegleria.htm
http://www.lcra.org/water/safety/boating/pam.html

Disclaimer: As I deal directly with patient records (although unrelated), I need to make anyone thats reading this aware that all of this information is available to the general public, and I have not provided any information that would result in a HIPAA violation.
have a good day.

[whitlock87]

Brain-eating amoeba concerns health officials
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/articl...65/1033/NEWS01

This happen at Lake Havasu this year.

[sparky216]

hmmm, brain eating Ameoba eh? Suddenly year round boarding looks less and less appealing...............

[Ruune]

you mean MORE appealing? the amoeba is less prevalant in colder water.

[sparky216]

you mean MORE appealing? the amoeba is less prevalant in colder water.

I know, that is why I said year round is less and less appealing. Warm regions allow for that, Oregon does not.


According to the CDC, the amoeba, properly known as Naegleria fowleri, infected just 23 people between 1995 and 2004, but will become more common as temperatures rise. That's probably true -- but should health officials really "put their communities on high alert, telling people to stay away from warm, standing water"?

[dogbert]

Yes. I uspect the reason we had two cases in the same lake is that all the lakes along the Colorado got flushed and their water was replaced with rather warm run-off from massive amounts of flooding. Usually, the amoeba lives on the bottom and is stirred up. Under normal circumstances here, our water below about 7-8' goes to 60 degrees or less.

The amoeba doesn't do well in water under 80 degrees.

[Ruune]

however, the water temperature this year has been colder than in previous years.

[dogbert]

You been on Lake Austin lately? It's the same temp as Lake Travis.

[spharis]

If it feels like a bathtub, looks cloudy, and smells like swamp muck I try to avoid getting in. We have really nasty stuff living in the water around here especially when it is warmer.

The water off the river yesterday was actually kind of chilly.

[kana12]

so when they say its more common in warmer waters what temp are they talking about like 78 to 85 degrees ????

[dogbert]

I think it's above 80 degrees.