AMEBIC MENINGOENCEPHALITIS - USA (02): (VIRGINIA, LOUISIANA)
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In this update:
[1] Virginia - environmental sampling
[2] Louisiana - tap water
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[1]Virginia - environmental sampling
Date: Sat 20 Aug 2011
Source: Times Dispatch [edited
<http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2011/aug/20/tdmet01-cdc-seeks-to-sample-virginia-waters-for-de-ar-1250285/>
CDC seeks to sample Virginia waters for deadly amoeba
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is asking Virginia for help sampling state waterways as it attempts to develop a test for detecting microscopic amoebas that have caused 3 U.S. deaths this year.
This month, a 9-year-old Henrico County boy died after being exposed to _Naegleria fowleri_, which swims up nasal passages and burrows into the brain, causing a fatal infection known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.
The patient had visited several bodies of water during a Richmond fishing camp the previous week. A Louisiana man and a Florida girl also died after exposure to the amoeba this summer. In total, more than 120 people have died of the waterborne amoeba since it was identified in the early 1960s, the CDC reports.
The CDC knows little about the free-living amoebas, which can be found in bodies of freshwater around the country, said Michael Beach, the federal agency's associate director for healthy water.
"It's a terrible disease that we would like to know more about and be able to tell the public more about from a prevention standpoint," he said. "We are trying to learn more, but it's a tough one because it's such a rare occurrence." He said the Atlanta-based agency wants to know why millions of people come in contact with the amoebas every year by swimming in their local ponds and lakes, but only a few die.
"That's the million-dollar question," he said. "We have no idea."
He said scientists want to know if there is something anatomically different about children who were infected -- the average age of victims is 12 -- or if there are differences in the amoebas themselves. They want to know if a person is more likely to get infected if there is a higher quantity of the amoebas. And they wonder if being infected by an amoeba is "just a very rare event and the person happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and one amoeba is floating by."
"Our take on this is the 1st thing to do is have a good test," he said. "Then, you can start to ask, 'With all these other things changing, how does that affect Naegleria?'"
He said the test being developed would use an antibody that would act as a magnet to pull the amoeba out of a volume of water. He has talked with Virginia's Department of Health about pulling samples from some of its waterways that could be used to test the test, Beach said. He said it could happen as soon as this summer or possibly next summer.
"We don't have the staffing or resources to be able to do that remotely," Beach said.
He said the CDC does not recommend that states sample waterways after an amoebic meningoencephalitis case because the current tests are so unreliable. Virginia has not sampled any waterways in the aftermath of Christian's death, nor has it closed any ponds or lakes.
"We're not going to be able to pinpoint where he contracted the amoeba," said Dr. Keri Hall, the state epidemiologist for the Department of Health.
She said the patient had visited multiple bodies of water, including the James River.
[Byline: Kristen Green
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Communicated by:
Thomas James Allen
<tjallen@pipeline.com>
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[2]Louisiana - tap water
Date: Thu 18 Aug 2011
Source: USA Today [edited]
<http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011/08/Second-death-from-brain-eating-amoeba/50023400/1>
Amebic meningoencephalitis from irrigating sinuses
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Health officials say two children and a young adult have died this summer from a microscopic amoeba that lives in water. The amoeba goes up the nose and burrows up into the skull. Most cases of the rare infection are caught while swimming in lakes or ponds. However, Louisiana officials linked the June death of a young man to the tap water he used to flush out his sinuses.
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ProMED-mail from HealthMap alerts
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[Free living amoeba are most probably ubiquitous and would be expected to be found in most fresh water bodies. Most _Neagleria fowleri_ samples adapted to in vitro culture grow best at temperature between
25 deg C and 32 deg C (77 - 89.6 deg F), which probably explain that exposure rarely result in invasive infection. The case from Louisiana underlines that flushing of the nasal sinus should be done with sterile water. - Mod.EP]
[see also:
Amebic meningoencephalitis - USA: (VA, FL) 20110817.2494
2009
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Amebic meningoencephalitis, organ transplant - USA (02): (MS)
20091222.4309
2007
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Acanthamoeba keratitis - USA (Multistate) 20070527.1703
2002
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Amebic meningoencephalitis - USA (Arizona) (05) 20021124.5886
2001
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Amebic meningoencephalitis, primary - USA (Calif.) 20010424.0793
1998
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Amebic meningoencephalitis, primary - Mexico 19980827.1695 Amebic meningoencephalitis, primary - USA (Florida) 19980808.1557 Amebic meningoencephalitis, primary - USA (Michigan) 19980828.1713 Amebic meningoencephalitis, primary - USA(Texas) (03) 19980808.1556
1995
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Amebic meningoencephalitis, primary - Texas, USA 19950823.0733 Waterborne pathogens 19950809.0654 Waterborne pathogens (2) 19950809.0655 Waterborne pathogens: RFI 19950808.0650] .................................................mpp/ep/ejp/mpp/ll
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