Infection from brain-eating amoeba kills boy in the US
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Jaysen Carr, a middle school student, contracted the deadly infectious amoeba after swimming in Lake Murray, a reservoir roughly 15 miles from Columbia, South Carolina.
PHOTO: GOFUNDME
Aishvarya Kavi
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SOUTH CAROLINA - A 12-year-old boy died last week in South Carolina from a rare brain-eating amoeba he contracted after swimming in a local reservoir, a lawyer for the boy’s family said in a statement on July 24.
Jaysen Carr, a middle school student, contracted the deadly infectious amoeba after swimming in Lake Murray, a reservoir roughly 15 miles from Columbia, South Carolina, the law firm of Tyler D. Bailey said on Facebook. He died on July 18.
In a briefing on July 24, Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in South Carolina confirmed that Jaysen died from Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba that thrives in warm freshwater.
It was not immediately clear when he had gone swimming. Dominion Energy, which owns the lake and runs recreational access to it, could not be immediately reached on July 26.
Though it is nearly always fatal, the amoeba is rarely contracted, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There were 167 reported infections in the United States between 1962 and 2024. All but four cases were fatal, according to the CDC.
People cannot be infected by drinking water containing the amoeba or by other exposures, unless water goes into the nose, according to the CDC.
Infections are hard to detect because they are so rare, but headaches, fever, nausea, and vomiting can all be symptoms, according to the CDC.
The amoeba gets its nickname from the way it destroys brain tissue, using the brain as a food source after being forced up the sinuses through a rush of water. When the microbe is in the water, it feasts on bacteria.
The organism is typically found in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, and contracted by swimming.
Infections have also been linked to the use of neti pots and other nasal irrigation devices.
A 71-year-old Texas woman died in 2024 after using a nasal irrigation device filled with tap water from a recreational vehicle on a campground in Texas, according to a CDC report published in May.
Tap water is not safe for rinsing nasal passages, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which recommends the use of filtered, boiled or otherwise sterilised water instead. NYTIMES
