Investigators believe teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead but epidemiologist says disease is ‘very, very rare’
Experts have said that the death of a teenager in the Las Vegas area from a rare brain-eating amoeba should prompt caution, not panic, among people at freshwater lakes, rivers and springs.
“It gets people’s attention because of the name,” Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist, said on Friday of the naturally occurring organism officially called Naegleria fowleri but almost always dubbed the brain-eating amoeba. “But it is a very, very rare disease.”
Continue reading…Investigators believe teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead but epidemiologist says disease is ‘very, very rare’Experts have said that the death of a teenager in the Las Vegas area from a rare brain-eating amoeba should prompt caution, not panic, among people at freshwater lakes, rivers and springs.“It gets people’s attention because of the name,” Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist, said on Friday of the naturally occurring organism officially called Naegleria fowleri but almost always dubbed the brain-eating amoeba. “But it is a very, very rare disease.” Continue reading…