A man in Florida died after contracting a rare "brain-eating infection" that appears to have come from tap water, according to federal health officials. The unnamed man died on February 20 from what health officials believe after contracting a brain-eating amoeba, a single-celled organism, in Charlotte County, some 70 miles south of Tampa.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the man contracted Naegleria fowleri after washing his nose with tap water. However, the DOH-Charlotte said that tap water in the area is still safe for drinking as the amoeba is rare and can only infect humans through the nose.
Deadly Attack on Human Life
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Fox 4 that the man likely died from the brain-eating infection after the amoeba entered his body through his nose. "The adult patient reportedly performed nasal rinsing daily with unboiled tap water, which is thought to be the source of the infection," the CDC said in a statement to the station.
According to the station, the CDC further stated that this was the first incidence of the fatal infection this year and the first ever recorded in the US during the winter.
The CDC did not specify where in the state the patient lived, but state health officials said in a news release last Thursday that Charlotte County, in the southwest of the Sunshine State, had reported a case of Naegleria fowleri.
Local officials would not confirm to Fox 4 if the person who died was the case they alerted the public to.
"DOH-Charlotte, as part of a multi-agency response, is continuing to investigate how this infection occurred and is working with the local public utilities to identify any potential link and make any necessary corrective actions," the Florida Department of Health said in the press release about the case.
Everyone's at Risk
Only a few brain-eating amoeba-related deaths occur in the US each year, generally among people who are swimming in warm-water lakes and rivers. Naegleria fowleri, a frighteningly deadly amoeba, kills 97 percent of the victims it infects. Few Americans have ever managed to survive the virus.
Florida is one of the states with the highest number of cases of brain-eating amoeba case, with 37 of the approximately 160 cases ever reported in the United States.
Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, often known as PAM or amebic meningitis, is a condition brought on by the amoeba.
Among the symptoms are an initial headache, nausea, and vomiting. As things progress, a person may experience cognitive problems and a stiff neck.
The brain and spinal cord then experience extreme edema and eventually decay. In most of the cases, it results in the death of the person infected.
PAM currently has no known viable therapies. "[Department of Health-Charlotte], as part of a multi-agency response, is continuing to investigate how this infection occurred and is working with the local public utilities to identify any potential links and make any necessary corrective actions," it wrote in a statement earlier this month.
However, it barely infects around three people a year, according to federal health officials. According to the CDC, there were 157 confirmed cases nationwide between 1962 and 2022, with 37 of those cases being linked to Florida.
