An American died because he swallowed a brain-eating amoeba while swimming

Everyone has heard about how dangerous it is to swim in tropical latitudes. But it turns out that you can catch a deadly disease without leaving for the south. A resident of Missouri, USA, bathed in the river, and died a few days later. Doctors determined that he was killed by an amoeba that got into the body with water.

The man decided to spend a day off in nature and went to the beach in Iowa. He had a wonderful time: he swam in the river and sunbathed a little. But after a couple of days he became ill and even emergency hospitalization did not save his life. The beach lover died shortly after arriving at the clinic.

Doctors found that the man was killed by an amoeba, which he swallowed along with river water. The simplest microorganism with the Latin name Naegleria fowleri caused amoebic meningoencephalitis — a serious disease before which even modern medicine is powerless. Immediately after determining the cause of death, the beach in Iowa was closed to vacationers.

The probability of catching such a disease when bathing is very low. In the USA, from 1962 to 2021, only 154 such cases were recorded. At the same time, only 2 patients survived. Amoebic meningoencephalitis is accompanied by high fever, nausea, headaches and seizures.

An amoeba, having got into the body through the mucous membrane of the nose or mouth, enters the brain with blood flow and causes irreparable damage to it in a matter of hours. Even a timely visit to the doctor rarely helps the patient to survive. But, as a rule, infected people do not immediately get to the hospital. Most people think they just caught a cold while bathing.

In order to destroy the brain, it is not necessary to swim in the river. Australian resident Sam Bollard became disabled by eating a slug on a bet.