A woman in Texas died in 2024 from a brain-eating amoeba that appeared after she used tap water and a nasal irrigation device, researchers with the state and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report.
According to the report, the previously healthy woman, 71, filled the device with tap water from a recreational vehicle water system at a campground in Texas. Within four days, she developed severe symptoms such as altered mental status and fever. She later suffered seizures.
Doctors tried treating the woman, but she died eight days after the symptoms started.
CDC laboratory testing confirmed that the amoeba Naegleria fowleri was found in the woman’s cerebrospinal fluid. The amoeba is a one-celled organism that can live in warm freshwater, such as lakes, poorly maintained areas with water, such as swimming pools, and tap water. It can infect the brain and destroy brain tissue….