Sep 27 2007
Brain eating bacteria takes 6th life this year
On Brain Eating Bacteria and Influenza Alerts
14-year-old Aaron Evans died of Naegleria fowleri last week. Naegleria fowleria is microscopic organism. It usually attacks the brain through the nasal cavity and then travels to the brain.
Just received an email from a reader about outbreak alerts. Although as far as I know there’s no real-time alert resource for Naegleria fowleri, there are other resources detailing outbreak alerts. Healthmap uses Google maps to illustrate disease outbreaks for the last 30 days including afflictions such as E. coli and influenza. There’s a link following the diagram.
A diagram of the organism from the Center for Disease Control:
Finally this is getting national news attention!
Wired magazine did an article on influenza alerts and vaccine locations. I can’t find it though.
The news stated that Aaron Evans and family were swimming in some lake in AZ. According to the doctor, this is where Aaron got the bacteria. I want to know what lake. Any mention of this or where the other 5 victims came in contact with bacteria?
This AzCentral says authorities believe Aaron acquired Naegleria fowleria at Lake Havasu. The other locations include two in Texas and three in central Florida.