A freshwater beach in Southern Iowa was forced to shut down Friday after a lady who had swam there contracted Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba, according to state health officials.
The swimmer, a Missouri woman, was in the water in Taylor County’s Lake of Three Fires at the end of last month. She was later proven to be afflicted with the single-celled, free-living amoeba that can produce a “life-threatening infection of the brain,” according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Public Health.
Cox stated that officials were just made aware of the infection on Wednesday.
The amoeba, which is widely found in warm freshwater bodies such as lakes, rivers, and ponds, can cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection (PAM). Fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, convulsions, and hallucinations are among the symptoms.
Naegleria fowleri infection can occur when water carrying the amoeba enters the nasal cavity. It passes from the nose to the brain, “where it destroys brain tissue.” It cannot be transmitted by drinking tainted water.
