Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba Sparks Warning About Lake Mead's Water
Lake Mead visitors should exhibit caution when participating in water activities in the area as a rare, brain-eating amoeba could be present under the right conditions.
Naegleria fowleri, or N. fowleri, can be found in bodies of warm freshwater, including lakes, rivers or hot springs. It is a single-celled organism that can cause a disease known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which results in severe brain damage. The infection is often fatal. The amoeba has a fatality rate of 97 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Lake Mead National Recreation Area officials warned Lake Mead visitors that the amoeba has been found in hot springs. It enters through the nose and then causes a fatal infection marked by symptoms like severe headaches, fever and vomiting.
"A microscopic amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, which can live in hot springs, can cause a rare and deadly infection. The amoeba enters the body through the nose only," a spokesperson from the organization told Newsweek. "Do not dive or submerse your head in warm springs or associated streams."
There are millions of exposures to the amoeba each year, but infection from N. fowleri is rare. Between zero and five cases were diagnosed annually between 2013 and 2022, the CDC reported. However, the risk is higher in warm months like July, August and September.
At least two people died of the infection this past July—a Georgia resident died on July 28 because of the infection after swimming in a Georgia lake or pond, and a 2-year-old boy died in Nevada on July 20 after contracting the infection while swimming in Ash Springs.
The amoeba also can appear in tap water, although exposure from tap water is rarer than in bodies of freshwater. A Florida man died in February after rinsing his nasal passages with tap water, which exposed him to the amoeba. The CDC confirmed it was the first ever case of a person being infected by N. fowleri through tap water.
Jennifer Cope, medical officer at the CDC's Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch, previously told Newsweek that climate change could mean a northward expansion of the organism.
"Since 2010, cases have been confirmed in more northern states such as Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, and northern California, which suggests a northward expansion of cases," the CDC report said.
Swimmers are advised not to dive, jump, dunk their head underwater or participate in activities that could result in water going up the person's nose. N. fowleri are more likely to live in the sediment at the bottom of a body of water, so the CDC advises swimmers to avoid digging or stirring the sediment. Most brain-eating amoeba infections occur in boys aged 14 years old and younger, although CDC experts are unsure why this is.
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