A affected person from Missouri has died after being contaminated with a brain-eating amoeba following a go to to an Iowa lake, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed on Friday.
The affected person died of major amebic meningoencephalitis, a often lethal an infection brought on by the naegleria fowleri amoeba, The Associated Press reported.
NBC News has reached out to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for extra information.
The loss of life of the Missouri resident was first reported by The Des Moines Register.
Missouri well being officers haven’t recognized the affected person, who was in the intensive care unit previous to their loss of life, the Register reported.
“Because these cases are so incredibly rare and out of respect for the family, we do not intend to release additional information about the patient which could lead to the person’s identification,” Lisa Cox, communications director from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, instructed the Register in an e mail.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services discovered of the an infection on July 6, the Register reported. Officials believed the affected person swam in an Iowa lake suspected of carrying the amoeba in late June. The Lake of Three Fires in Taylor County, Iowa, the place the Missouri resident is believed to have contracted the amoeba, was closed earlier this month as a “precautionary response.”
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services warned in a tweet that the amoeba “is not contagious” but can be lethal if a person is infected.
“Although uncommon, an infection can happen when water containing Naegleria fowleri enters by means of the nostril from heat freshwater. The amoeba travels up the nostril to the mind the place it destroys mind tissue. This an infection isn’t contagious and might’t be contracted by swallowing water,” the division tweeted.
The fatality rate for those who contract primary amebic meningoencephalitis from Naegleria fowleri is more than 97 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC said it is often contracted from rivers and lakes. Of 154 cases reported in the United States, only four people have survived Naegleria fowleri, officials told the Register.
The Missouri resident is possibly the first-ever reported in Iowa, according to the CDC.
The primary symptoms of an infection include headaches, fever, nausea and vomiting, the Register reported.
No additional cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis have been reported, according to the Register.
Officials said the death is being investigated and while it is believed the patient contracted the amoeba in the Lake of Three Fires, other bodies of water are being tested.
“It’s strongly believed by public well being specialists that the lake is a probable supply, however we aren’t limiting the investigation to that supply as a result of it hasn’t been confirmed. Additional public water sources in Missouri are being examined,” the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services tweeted.
The Associated Press, Marlene Lenthang and TJ Swigart contributed.