ROCKINGHAM — After an Ohio teen died from exposure to “brain-eating amoeba” at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, people who frequent popular summer water spots like the Pee Dee River and Hitchcock Creek Blue Trail may wonder whether the waters are safe.

Richmond County Health Director Dr. Tommy Jarrell said that contracting disease from the amoeba is not a common occurrence.

“Naegleria fowleri infections are very rare but they are devastating if contracted,” he said. “From 2005 to 2014, there were 35 infections reported in the United States. All but two were fatal.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida and Texas each reported 34 cases between 1962 and 2015 — North Carolina reported only 4 infections during the same 53-year period.

The CDC describes Naegleria fowleri as “a warm water-loving amoeba found around the world, often in warm or hot freshwater (lakes, rivers, and hot springs).” They say Naegleria fowleri amoeba can travel up the nose and into the brain, where it causes the disease primary amebic meningoencephalitis, which destroys brain tissue and causes brain swelling and death.

Symptoms of the disease, they say, are similar to other diseases causing inflammation and swelling of the brain and usually begin about five days after infection. These include headache, fever and nausea or vomiting in the early stages, but later symptoms can include stiff neck, confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations.

Death most often occurs within five days of the appearance of symptoms.

CDC spokesperson Brittany Behm said an unusually high concentration of the amoeba was found in samples taken from the whitewater center in Charlotte.

“We did collect 11 samples that were water-related from the whitewater center,” she said. “All 11 samples tested positive for Naegleria fowleri. Some were taken from the water and others from the surrounding environment, such as rocks and soil.”

While it is too soon to speculate on why the amoeba were so plentiful at the Charlotte water park, Behm did say its design combining features of a natural environment with man-made elements can yield unpredictable results.

“This is kind of a unique environment,” she said. It’s man-made and you have a concentration of a lot of water in a very small space. The center was treating the water with chlorine, but was not equipped with an automated chlorination system, so dirt and debris in the water and exposure to sunlight can use up that chlorine. And the water, not being clear, prevents UV rays from reaching the pathogens and killing them. We do not know enough about man-made environments like the whitewater center, the way they emulate natural environments, and their effect on pathogens like this amoeba.”

Properly maintained public swimming pools, she said, do not pose a threat. And according to a CDC fact sheet on Naegleria fowleri, the amoeba are not found in natural saltwater. But hot springs, lakes and rivers and ponds are natural hosts for the microscopic organisms.

“It’s important to remember that you cannot get infected from Naegleria fowleri in clean, treated water venues,” Behm said. “It is normally found in warm water rivers and ponds. During the summer months when it is hot outside, waters are warmer and people can be aware of this added risk and decide not to go into the water at all, or they can avoid stirring up the sediment at the bottom of ponds and rivers, and avoid getting water up the nose, because that is the only way to be infected. Be aware of this very rare risk, and avoid water up the nose.”

Reach Richmond County Daily Journal reporter Melonie McLaurin at 910-817-2673 and follow her on Twitter @meloniemclaurin.

William R. Toler | Daily Journal According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention, the type of amoeba that caused the death of an Ohio teen in Charlotte last month can be found in warm freshwater bodies, like lakes and rivers, but not natural saltwater.
https://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_PeeDee_gi.jpgWilliam R. Toler | Daily Journal According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention, the type of amoeba that caused the death of an Ohio teen in Charlotte last month can be found in warm freshwater bodies, like lakes and rivers, but not natural saltwater.

Jarrell
https://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TommyJarrell.jpgJarrell

Behm
https://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_downloadbehm.jpgBehm

By Melonie McLaurin

mflomer@civitasmedia.com