WARNING against outdoor swimming

[DianeW88]

for those of you who live where river and lake water gets above 80 degrees. Definitely not my neck of the woods, but I know there are quite a few people who do. This is so sad and tragic, my heart is breaking for this girl's family.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/08/15/deadly-amoeba-suspected-in-florida-teens-death/?test=faces

[Nakia]

:crying:

[Mommyfaithe]

This is soooo sad. My kids have gotten a nasty case of dysentery from swimming in creeks....but this is beyond anything I would have ever expected. My heart breaks for her parents. She was a beautiful girl.

 

Sigh,

Faithe

[silliness7]

That is very sad for that family. :crying:

 

 

But there have only been 32 reported cases in 9 years. Extraordinarily rare.

[FaithManor]

Very sad! Stagnant is the key. You don't find this bug much in lakes as large as say The Great Lakes - seriously moving water, good current, more natural purification. But, rivers like the St. John's and small inland lakes that aren't deep and the temperatures get pretty high so the bug reproduces in bumper crop mode, have a much, much higher risk.

 

We've been having extended unseasonably warm temps in so much of the US that, unfortunately, more bodies of water may be infested with the parasite than previous years. UGH!

 

So, so tragic.

 

Faith

[DianeW88]

That is very sad for that family. :crying:

 

 

But there have only been 32 reported cases in 9 years. Extraordinarily rare.

 

Yes, exceptionally rare. Most likely nothing would happen if you did swim. Even if you swam multiple times, you'd probably be just fine. But kind of like rabies in a way...once you've contracted it...there's nothing that can be done. :crying: I think that's what so devastating. It's such a senseless death. I admire her family for having the presence of mind to give others the gift of life in spite of what must have been complete and total heartbreak for them.

[MariannNOVA]

DH was telling me about this last night. So sad.

[Lady Florida.]

She attended school in my city, and lived in the town just north of mine. There was a tribute for her yesterday.

 

It happens here every few years, and it's nearly always fatal. It always seems to be young people who are affected - kids or teens. So tragic. We do not swim in fresh water in the summer. Ever.

[sassenach]

She attended school in my city, and lived in the town just north of mine. There was a tribute for her yesterday.

 

It happens here every few years, and it's nearly always fatal. It always seems to be young people who are affected - kids or teens. So tragic. We do not swim in fresh water in the summer. Ever.

 

When we lived in Florida, it seemed like every other year that a child died from an amoeba. Usually it was from swimming in smaller ponds. I'm surprised that the St. Johns was the source of this one.

[Lady Florida.]

When we lived in Florida, it seemed like every other year that a child died from an amoeba.

 

I initially typed "every other year" and then thought, "Nah. It probably only seems like it's that often". I see I'm not the only one who thought that way.

[Spryte]

So sad.

 

This amoeba is sometimes found in hot springs as well.

[justamouse]

Oh how horrible.

 

I knew about beaver fever, but not this.

[chickenpatty]

:( That happened around here last week, too. So sad!

[2cents]

Oh that is so tragic! That poor family. I can't even imagine how they can cope with that. :crying:

 

It is an especially good reminder to people living near lakes in Florida. A lot of people think the only thing they need to fear is the alligators. We used to live on the intercostal waterway and many people in our neighborhood would jump from their docks and swim in the water...until one family came down with a bad eye infection from the bacteria that is in the seawater. Fortunately they were able to treat it.

[Garga]

I'm not going to read the article, because I'll cry, so can you just tell me some unemotional details about what happened?

 

She went swimming in a warm lake and contracted some sort of bug? I would just like to know because we go wading in a little creek nearby, and a couple of spots sometimes get stagnant. We don't wade in the stagnant part, but are we still at risk somehow?

[Wheres Toto]

A couple of the lakes in South Jersey have closed down a few times this summer. With the extremely high temperatures, we were having a lot of different kind of infectious organisms growing more than usual. They do test all the public swimming lakes frequently thankfully and I haven't heard of anyone getting sick.

 

Dh takes the little guys down to visit his parents and they go swimming in the lakes all the time. I'm not sure I want them to anymore. I'm glad summer is almost over.

[MBM]

So tragic.

Be careful anywhere fresh water, or even lightly-chlorinated water, gets too warm. One death occurred as far north as Minnesota and was caused by the same type of amoeba.

One theory why kids seem to get it is that they often jump and dive into the water, forcing water up their nose.

More info here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri

[ChristusG]

Poor girl and poor family. :sad: This is one reason why we've stopped swimming in lakes down here in FL. I know that it is pretty rare, but still.

 

Plus, you can't really see what's in lakes. My uncle lives on a lake and someone was swimming there and accidentally stepped on some broken glass on the bottom of the lake. They cut their foot pretty badly and developed an infection from the water.

[jennsmile]

While it is tragic it is extremely rare. You are more likely to die in a car accident or get struck by lightning. We had a boy in Texas pass away 4 years ago from the same thing. My doctor was the county health doctor on the case. And she made it very clear it was very unlikely to happen to my children, yet it is tragic when it does occur.

[Excelsior! Academy]

When I think of all the places I swam as a girl I shudder! I feel so bad for her family. :crying:

[PollyOR]

I grew up in FL and used to swim in the lakes there. The water was a dark brown/amber because of the cypress trees. Kind of like swimming in tea. The top layer was very warm and the water cooled as it got deeper. I was more afraid of the alligators than an amoeba. The small fish would peck at my dry skin which scared me to death.

[CourtneyMI]

Gah! And my kids are going to the lake tomorrow with my parents! At least it's Lake Michgan which moves a lot. Still, I hate the lake. The weeds, the sand, the fact that you can't see your feet....ugh! Gag!

 

Okay really sad girly moment over!

[WiseOwlKnits]

This happened to a little boy in the Austin area last year. So sad. :(

[FaithManor]

Gah! And my kids are going to the lake tomorrow with my parents! At least it's Lake Michgan which moves a lot. Still, I hate the lake. The weeds, the sand, the fact that you can't see your feet....ugh! Gag!

 

Okay really sad girly moment over!

 

I wouldn't worry too much about Lake Michigan. It's a fast moving, fairly self-cleaning lake. This amoeba does not like moving water, the slower the better. Given the lake currents on Michigan, it's farily doubtful that this amoeba is replicating there. Additionally, it doesn't replicate much until water temperatures get above 80 degrees and are maintained there for a period of days. Lake Michigan's temp for today is at it's shallowest points 76 degrees and much of it is below 75 and more into the 72 range. That's low for this amoeba.

 

The amoeba does not survive the GI tract both enzymes in saliva and acids in the stomach kill it. The only means of infection is inhalation and forceful inhalation because it has to be taken well into the sinus cavity in order to make it's way to the brain before dying of inhospitable conditions due to nasal discharge. As a general rule, this is why children are more susceptible, because they rough house in the water. Most adults don't snort much in when hanging lolligagging at the beach. But, you can reduce and just about completely eliminate the possibility of infection by having your children wear nose plugs while in the water. I looked up several websites on the amoeba and this was considered to be statistically full-proof.

 

Faith

[mom2scouts]

I have never heard of this. We swim at a public swimming lake and we've never heard of anyone getting sick from it. We went last week and they had the water temperature posted as 82 degrees.

[happi duck]

I wouldn't worry too much about Lake Michigan. It's a fast moving, fairly self-cleaning lake. This amoeba does not like moving water, the slower the better. Given the lake currents on Michigan, it's farily doubtful that this amoeba is replicating there. Additionally, it doesn't replicate much until water temperatures get above 80 degrees and are maintained there for a period of days. Lake Michigan's temp for today is at it's shallowest points 76 degrees and much of it is below 75 and more into the 72 range. That's low for this amoeba.

 

The amoeba does not survive the GI tract both enzymes in saliva and acids in the stomach kill it. The only means of infection is inhalation and forceful inhalation because it has to be taken well into the sinus cavity in order to make it's way to the brain before dying of inhospitable conditions due to nasal discharge. As a general rule, this is why children are more susceptible, because they rough house in the water. Most adults don't snort much in when hanging lolligagging at the beach. But, you can reduce and just about completely eliminate the possibility of infection by having your children wear nose plugs while in the water. I looked up several websites on the amoeba and this was considered to be statistically full-proof.

 

Faith

 

thanks for this info

[Wheres Toto]

I grew up in FL and used to swim in the lakes there. The water was a dark brown/amber because of the cypress trees. Kind of like swimming in tea. The top layer was very warm and the water cooled as it got deeper. I was more afraid of the alligators than an amoeba. The small fish would peck at my dry skin which scared me to death.

 

A lot of the water in South Jersey is the same because of cedar. You come out looking all hairy because of the fibers sticking on your skin.