Swimmer dies from rare amoeba at Lake Lyndon B. Johnson, officials say

AUSTIN, Texas – A Travis County resident died after swimming in Lake Lyndon B. Johnson and falling sick from an amebic meningitis an infection.

Austin Public Health reported the case on Wednesday, including that the resident swam at the lake this month.

“Although these infections are very rare, this is an important reminder that there are microbes present in natural bodies of water that can pose risks of infection,” Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes stated in a news release. “Increased temperatures over the summer make it ideal for harmful microorganisms to grow and flourish.”

Public well being officials are urging folks to take precautions whilst swimming in freshwater, as Texas continues to revel in prime temperatures.

Amebic meningitis is led to by means of Naegleria fowleri, a free-living amoeba that lives in heat freshwater and soil, in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It too can are living in swimming swimming pools or splash pads that aren’t correctly maintained or chlorinated.

It does now not are living in salt water. Due to the local weather, the amoeba is perhaps present in Texas and Florida.

Naegleria fowleri generally enters the frame during the nostril and travels to the mind, the place it destroys mind tissue and reasons swelling, the CDC states. People don’t get inflamed by means of ingesting water infected with Naegleria fowleri.

Symptoms can get started one to twelve days after an infection, and so they come with headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. Infected folks will later broaden a stiff neck, confusion, seizures and hallucinations.

To scale back the danger of an infection, swimmers are advised to carry their noses close or use nostril clips when going underwater. Swimmers will have to additionally keep away from swimming in heat freshwater right through prime temperatures and low-water ranges, and keep away from stirring up sediment.

Austin Public Health added that the an infection is rare, with simplest 39 recognized circumstances between 1962 and 2022 in Texas.

Lake LBJ may be experiencing a prime quantity of poisonous algae, in line with the Lower Colorado River Authority. The algae pose a risk to canines and folks when ingested, and folks will have to take precautions round algae blooms.

For extra information on amebic meningitis infections, click on here. For extra information on poisonous algae, click on here.