newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A deadly parasite that grows stronger in stagnant waters has caused the death of a nine-year-old Virginia boy.

ABC reported that Christian Alexander Strickland died Aug. 5 from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a parasitic infection that affects the brain and spine, after attending a fishing camp. Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that 16-year-old Floridian Courtney Nash died Saturday from the rare parasitic illness after swimming in a river.

According to Fox News, there were just 32 infections of the amoeba in the U.S. between 2001 and 2010. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Naegleria fowleri, or the brain-eating amoeba, lives in stagnant freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers when temperatures reach the 80s.

The parasite enters the body through the nose, moves through the sinuses and infects the brain and cerebrospinal fluid. Infection begins within one to two weeks of exposure, and symptoms include a change in the sense of smell or taste, fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion and loss of balance. Symptoms often progress rapidly and usually lead to death within a few days to a week.

According to MSNBC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the disease killed 23 people in the U.S. between 1995 and 2004, "including 2 children from Phoenix, Arizona in 2002, who had been exposed to well water but not consumed it." Six deaths were documented in 2007, all occurring in warmer areas (Arizona, Texas, Florida).

It is unknown why some disease victims develop a brain infection while others do not.