A child has died of a rare infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a river in eastern Nebraska, U.S. officials say. It comes just weeks after a man died of a similar infection in neighboring Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Douglas County Health Department said the child, whose identity has not been released, died earlier this week after contracting Naegleria Fowleri while swimming in the Elkhorn River last Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The single-celled organism can infect people when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose, usually while swimming or diving,” the health department said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Symptoms usually occur between 1 and 12 days after infection and may include headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting. These symptoms may progress to a stiff neck, confusion, seizures, and other neurological symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An infection with the brain-eating amoeba is nearly always fatal, killing 152 out of 156 patients since the early 1960s. Most cases were found in southern U.S. states, especially Texas (39) and Florida (37).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Naegleria Fowleri is a heat-loving ameba and is usually found in warm freshwater environments, recent infections have also been found in northern U.S. states as cooler regions have become warmer and drier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The death in Nebraska is the state’s first known case of Naegleria Fowleri since CDC records began in 1962. Last month, a patient from Missouri died of an infection with the brain-eating amoeba after swimming in The Lake of Three Fires in Taylor County, Iowa. This too was the state’s first known case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A child has died of a rare infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a river in eastern Nebraska, U.S. officials say. It comes just weeks after a man died of a similar infection in neighboring Iowa. The Douglas County Health Department said the child, whose identity has not been released, died earlier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1962,15,1961,909,151],"class_list":["post-35518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usnews","tag-elkhorn-river","tag-featured","tag-naegleria-fowleri","tag-nebraska","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"\n