A man is in the ICU for an infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba that he contracted while swimming in a lake in Iowa.
The Lake of Three Fires in Taylor County, Iowa, has been shut down as officials test the water for the parasite's presence.
"The closure is a precautionary response to a confirmed infection of Naegleria fowleri in a Missouri resident with recent potential exposure while swimming at the beach at Lake of Three Fires State Park," the Iowa Department of Health said in a statement Friday.
"Testing to confirm the presence of Naegleria fowleri in Lake of Three Fires is being conducted in conjunction with the CDC and could take several days to complete."
Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, and ponds; however, the resulting life-threatening infection of the brain, known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), is extremely rare, the agency noted. It is also difficult to catch. A person would have to inhale water containing the microscopic, single-celled amoeba through the nose to reach the brain.
"The Naegleria fowleri amoeba then travels up the nose to the brain where it destroys the brain tissue," the Iowa health department said, adding that the infection cannot be spread from one person to another, and it cannot be contracted by swallowing contaminated water.
Since 1964, there have been 154 reported cases in the U.S. It is almost always fatal, though, killing 97% of those who contract it, the New York Daily News reported, citing CDC. Of the 154 confirmed infections between 1962 and 2021, just four people survived.
"It's the worst parasite in the world that we know of because it causes such devastating pathology," Christopher Rice, a research scientist in the Center for Drug Discovery at the University of Georgia, said, according to the Daily News. He noted that it is difficult to diagnose the infection because it requires a sample of cerebral spinal fluid.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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