Texas Woman Dies From Horrifying Brain-Eating Amoeba

[riversedge]

Source: daily beast


Jack Revell Published 06.08.25 1:43AM EDT



An unnamed woman has died in Texas after succumbing to a terrifying brain-eating amoeba. It is believed the woman was infected with Naegleria fowleri, after using tap water in a sinus rinse. A case report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that the use of non-boiled water from her RV’s water system in the sinus-clearing device is the likely cause of infection. “The tank had been filled with water collected on an unknown date before the patient’s purchase of the RV 3 months earlier,” the report reads. Lab tests later confirmed the presence of N. fowleri in her brain fluid. The amoeba lives in warm, freshwater around the world and, while infection is rare, enters the body through the nasal passage, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis or PAM. Fewer than 10 people contract the disease in the U.S. each year, but it is fatal in almost everyone who does. The CDC recommends the use of distilled, sterile, or boiled and cooled tap water for nasal irrigation.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-woman-dies-from-horrifying-brain-eating-amoeba/

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Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba (one-celled living organism) that lives in soil and warm fresh water, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs. It is commonly called the brain-eating amoeba because it can cause brain infection when water containing the amoeba rises in the nose. Only about three people in the United States are infected each year, but these infections are usually fatal. (Photo by: CDC/IMAGE POINT FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
BSIP/BSIP/Universal Images Group via

[Oopsie Daisy]

1. Can one become infected with this by swimming in a contaminated lake...

... and, as people do, accidentally aspirating or getting the water in their sinuses. --- This has happened to me often with vigorous play or activity. What are the risks?

[marble falls]

2. You bet. In place near shore where there is not much water action and the water is warm ...

... we had another case last year or the year before from a child who'd been swimming in a lake here in Texas.

[paleotn]

3. Fortunately, not very high. Otherwise, with 340 million Americans, they're would be panic.

[sl8]

5. Yes, but occurences are rare.

https://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/about/amebic-meningitis.html

About Amebic Meningitis

Key points

- Amebic meningitis is rare.

- The ameba lives in warm fresh water and soil around the world.

- Diagnosing amebic meningitis can be hard.

- Healthcare providers can treat these infections with multiple medicines, but they are usually deadly

[...]

Exposure risks

Sources of infection

N. fowleri lives in warm fresh water and soil around the world.

Risk factors

Fresh water exposure

Most Naegleria infections occur after people swim or submerge their heads underwater. However, PAM may also occur when people use contaminated tap water to

- Cleanse their noses during religious practices
- Irrigate their sinuses (send water up the nose)

Geographic location

In the United States, most infections have been linked to swimming in southern states. However, evidence suggests the range of N. fowleri is expanding northward as the climate warms.

[...]

[Martin68]

20. According to the Mayo clinic, the organism is fairly ubiquitous, but infection is very, very rare.

Last edited Mon Jun 9, 2025, 01:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Mllions of Americans swim in rivers, ponds, and lakes every year, but the United States saw only 35 cases from 2005 to 2014. All of those people, one would assume, had some water enter their nose, but only very, very rarely does someone contract the disease. Please don't go through life worrying about this disease. You're more likely to be hit by a meteorite, but I assume that won't scare anyone into never going outside without a cast iron umbrella.

[Oopsie Daisy]

21. Thank you. Good information.

It's still so horrible and that just makes it even more scary.

[Martin68]

22. Undoubtedly it would be horrible to die of this disease, but hyping the possibility of anyone contracting it is

just sensationalism and scare-mongering.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

4. Oh shit!

Trump may replace Kennedy with her!

[BradBo]

6. Do not nasal irrigate! It's dangerous.

[Talitha]

14. It's perfectly safe when you follow directions and use distilled water.

[Mysterian]

16. Or boiled water

https://www.cdc.gov/naegleria/prevention/sinus-rinsing.html

[forgotmylogin]

17. Correct!

Boiling may also suffice, but it's a lot easier to just buy a gallon of distilled water and keep it under the bathroom sink for nasal irrigation.

[John1956PA]

7. This is a bit off-topic, but a specific type of brain-eating amoeba can be stopped by a medicine manufactured in China.

From https://news.uga.edu/director-discusses-repurposing-drug-to-battle-brain-eating-amoeba/ :

Dennis Kyle, director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, recently spoke with Science.org about using the drug nitroxoline to treat a rare infection of the central nervous system in a patient caused by the amoeba Balamuthia mandrillaris.

In the summer of 2021, a 54-year-old man was brought to a hospital in Northern California after an unexplained seizure. More testing eventually revealed the infection.

The medical team at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center went on a hunt for a cure, which led them to a study published several years ago in which researchers showed a drug originally developed in Europe to quell urinary tract infections was effective against Balamuthia in the laboratory. They moved to obtain the drug, nitroxoline, from abroad so it could be given for the first time to a Balamuthia patient.

The drug nitroxoline, which was developed years ago to combat urinary tract infections, fell into obscurity in the United States because of the development of newer, more effective drugs. The only country now producing it is China.

The 54-year-old patient referred to in the above excerpt died from the infection. The researchers experimented with number of drugs upon tissue extracted from the patient. It is discovered that the drug nitroxoline is highly effective in combating Balamuthia mandrillaris.

Subsequently, the life of a young patient in Texas was threatened by amoeba Balamuthia mandrillaris. The drug manufacturer in China shipped free dosages to Texas, with free shipping costs, to the Texas hospital treating the young patient. The dosages arrived within twenty-four hours and saved the patient's life.

[wolfie001]

9. Saved that little girl in Texas who was just playing outside

Nature is always on the hunt. Stay healthy.

[SARose]

8. Use distilled water with a neti pot

Never ever use tap water unless it has been boiled.

I warm the distilled water in the microwave for a few seconds.

[wolfie001]

10. I use distilled water in the cpap machine

Never, ever have I used tap water. I read of a similar case 10 years ago with a neti pot. I've never used one. Don't have cats anymore either That seemed to have helped with the sinuses.

[sl8]

11. CDC article that this is based on:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7419a4.htm
Notes from the Field: Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis Associated with Nasal Irrigation Using Water from a Recreational Vehicle — Texas, 2024
Weekly / May 29, 2025 / 74(19);334–335
[...]

CDC article (pdf) :
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/pdfs/mm7419a4-H.pdf

[whathehell]

12. ..another reason

I'm glad to live in a colder state.

[Historic NY]

13. RV water is a petrie dish in itself.

its needs to be flushed and purified with bleach.

[Warpy]

15. Don't be too terrified

It's almost vanishingly rare.

As global warming continues, it might become less rare, but not for now.

[FakeNoose]

18. Wasn't this already posted on Friday?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220372341

[IbogaProject]

19. I survived amebosis in 99.

Really bad diarrhea from it for a month. There is another bad Amoeba that destroys the liver. I caught mine in the summer in Morocco, this will be an increasing hazard as our environment warms.