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BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Jeffrey Allen Cusimano of St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana has been identified as the most recent victim of a deadly, brain-eating amoeba.
Cusimano had been using a neti pot to clear his sinuses. According to wwltv.com, a neti pot is shaped like a tea pot, and is used to rinse out the nose and sinus cavities with salt water.
Neti pots are said to carry warnings, telling users to first boil their tap water before use, according to fox8live.com.
Louisiana officials say the parasite was found in the shower head and the hot water heater of Cusimano’s home. They said say it was isolated to his home.
The first symptoms of the disease include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck, followed by confusion, attention loss, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations. Patrice Cusimano, Jeff’s mother, said that was exactly what happened with Jeff, 28.
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William Schaffner, an expert on infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical School, told NPR that the amoeba likes to live in water, and if the water temperature stays at about 80 degrees, and the water is brackish, or more salty, these amoebae multiply. Southeast Louisiana is the perfect environment. The infection is very rare but takes effect quickly. In some cases, victims die within a few days of infection.
