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There is a microscopic killer lurking in the lakes. But before you get too panicked, encounters with this bug are extremely rare. Yet this brain eating Amoeba, known as Naegleria Fowleri, or nuh-GLEERee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye for those brave enough to try and pronounce it, is being blamed for the deaths of at least 6 boys and young men this year.
In one case, 14-year-old David Evans went to swim in Lake Havusu, a popular man-made lake off the Colorado River between Arizona and California. He was on a family outing for his birthday, Sept. 8, with his parents and two siblings. They had a picnic at the lake and spent a few hours splashing around in the water. Everything seemed normal and well at first. But a week later, he began complaining of a persistent headache. He was taken to the hospital where doctors first suspected meningitis. It wasn't until after his death that doctors working alongside the Center for Disease Control and Prevention determined that he had been infected with Naegleria.
According to the CDC, this microbe has killed 23 people in the United States from 1995-2004. The bug can live almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, or even dirty swimming pools. It feeds off algae and seems to prefer warmer, shallow waters. Infections are generally found in the southern states.
Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the CDC, said that people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If they then do a somersault in the water, or perform some other activity where water shoots up the nose, they can become infected.
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