A boy in the United States has died after contracting a brain-eating amoeba from a lake in Northern California.
In a Los Angeles Times report, David Pruitt, a seven-year-old kid, died from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
It is a rare, devastating infection of the brain. The report said that the boy was infected after swimming in a freshwater lake last month. He was sent to UC Davis Medical Center on July 30 and died there on August 7.
PAM is caused by Naegleria fowleri, also known as a brain-eating amoeba. This is usually found in freshwater and soil.
“People get infected when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose forcefully,” the Tehama County Health Services Agency said in the report.
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“From the nose, the amoeba can sometimes migrate to the brain and destroy brain tissue,” it added.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said severe headache, fever, nausea and vomiting are early signs of infections.
As situation worsens it can lead to into a stiff neck, seizures or hallucinations.
There have been only 10 cases of PAM reported in California since 1971. (TDT)
