Deadly amoeba lurks in Florida
lakes
 Story Highlights
3 boys die from deadly amoeba in Orlando-area lakes this
summer
Bathers warned to stay out of water warmer than 80 degrees
Fahrenheit
Officials: Flu-like symptoms after swimming in a lake should
spark alarm
By John
Zarrella and Patrick Oppman
CNN
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Something in the lakes around Orlando, Florida,
has claimed the lives of three boys this summer.
"This thing is
just there. It's lurking like some deadly thing in the water which can take
our children's lives and we all have to be aware," said Orange County
Health Department Director Dr. Kevin Sherin.
The
"thing" isn't a fish or alligator. It is so small it cannot be
seen with the naked eye. The killer that lives in the hot, fresh water is a
single cell amoeba that once exposed to the human brain through the nasal
passages is almost always fatal.
At first people
exposed to the amoeba, naegleria fowleri, suffer from flu-like symptoms.
Very quickly, in from one to 14 days, the symptoms worsen, Sherin said.
"There's a downhill course. Folks lapse into a coma; there are
abnormal movements of the eyes and a terrible cascade of events leading to
the actual death of parts of the brain."
Sherin said
exposure to the amoeba can be detected by an MRI and it can be treated with
antibiotics if caught early enough, but Sherin said he believes medical
personnel are not in the habit of looking for the disease.
That is because the
amoeba is very rare. The Centers for Disease Control
in Atlanta, Georgia,
has documented 24 cases in the United States since 1989.
Health officials do
not know what caused three cases in Orlando
in one summer. Theories range from warmer temperatures to a drought that
has lowered lake levels. Sherin said officials considered closing access to
the lakes, but concluded they did not have the authority. Even if public
lakes had been closed, private lakes would have remained open.
So, at 15 parks and
lakes around the city, warnings about the amoeba have been posted. The
signs urge bathers to wear nose clips or stay out of water warmer than 80
degrees Fahrenheit, which can be a breeding ground for the amoeba.
The warnings
provide little solace for Steve Sellars.
Health
investigators said they believe Sellars' 11-year old son, Will, was exposed
to the amoeba during an August weekend spent learning to wakeboard on Orlando's Lake
Jessamine.
"You think it
won't happen to me, it won't happen to my family." Sellars said.
"You're wrong"
"[Will's]
symptoms were like a flu bug," Sellars said, "We rushed him to
the hospital and two days later he's passed away. It's like a
nightmare."
A month later, a
10-year-old boy died from exposure to the amoeba. Investigators have not
determined where he was exposed. The death of a 14 year-old boy in June in
the Orlando
area also is being blamed on the amoeba.
As he investigates
the deaths of the three boys from the amoeba, Sherin is concerned these
type of deaths may be underreported. Health departments in Florida are not
required to report amoeba infections to the state. The illness is so rare,
he said, it may be commonly misdiagnosed in the United States and
internationally.
He said anyone who
exhibits flu-like symptoms who has been in a lake recently should see a
doctor immediately.
Speaking in Will's
old bedroom, which Steve Sellars has decorated with photographs of his son,
Sellars said he hopes he can help get the word out. He does not want anyone
to lose a family member as quickly and mysteriously as he did.
"It's the
worst thing we ever had to go through and I hate to see any other parent go
through this and another child lose his life," Sellars said.
All
AboutCenters for Disease Control and
Prevention • Orlando (Florida)
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