A young woman who went white-water rafting in North Carolina contracted a rare, brain-eating amoeba and died, according to reports.
The 18-year-old, who was from Ohio, was on a trip with a church youth group last week, and visited an outdoor recreation center with white-water rafting in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to NBC news station WCMH in Columbus, Ohio. Health officials are still investigating the case, but it is suspected that she contracted the infection when her raft turned over and she went underwater.
The deadly infection is caused by a single-celled organism called Naegleria fowleri, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here are five key facts about these infections.
People usually become infected from warm freshwater lakes and rivers.
This amoeba likes to live in warm water, including warm lakes and rivers, as well as hot springs. The organism may also be found in warm pools that are not properly chlorinated, and in water heaters, the CDC says. It can live in temperatures as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius), and can sometimes survive at higher temperatures for short periods.
In the United States, most brain-eating-amoeba infections occur in bodies of freshwater in Southern states. Infections are most common during the summer months, especially when it is hot for prolonged periods, the CDC says.
Naegleria fowleri is not found in the ocean.
The amoeba gets to the brain through the nose.
People do not become infected withNaegleria fowleri by swallowing water. Rather, infections happen when water containing this amoeba goes up the nose and enters the brain. Once in the brain, the amoeba destroys brain tissue, which results in brain swelling and usually death, the CDC says.
Early symptoms, which include headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, can occur from one to nine days after infection.
Infection with this brain-eating amoeba is very rare.
From 2006 to 2015, there were just 37 cases ofNaegleria fowleri infection in the United States, even though millions of people go swimming each year, according to the CDC. For comparison, there were 34,000 drowning deaths from 2001 to 2010.