As a young Florida boy fights for his life by battling a brain-eating amoeba, Florida issued a warning to swimmers about the potentially fatal infection, Examiner.com reported.
Zachary Reyna, 12, became infected after swimming in a water-filled ditch near his house with friends on Aug. 3. Reyna suffers from the same infection that put Arkansas teen Kali Hardig, 12, in critical condition after contracting it at a water park.
The hash tag #pray4number4 started trending onTwitter to express well wishes for Reyna, hoping that he will become the fourth survivor of the deadly infection. In the past 50 years, 31 people have contracted primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) and only three have survived, according to The Daily Mail.
After the infection was confirmed in Glades County, the Florida Department of Health released the warning. While the health department knows the risk of the brain-eating infection is small, they are urging swimmers to take precautionary measures like reducing activities in fresh water.
Naegleria fowleri amoeba, a parasite that lives in freshwater and soil, is the cause of the extremely rare infection that Reyna contracted. The organism, although rare, is usually found in warm water making it common during the summer months -- especially in the south.
The department also asked swimmers to use nose clips and keeping your head out of the water to avoid water from entering your nose, which is the direct route the infection takes to get to the brain. Additionally, they mentioned to avoid digging up any sediment in fresh water because that's the where the organism grows.
Reyna underwent brain surgery and is currently recovering at a Miami hospital. He was also given an anti-amoeba drug from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was administered to Hardig as well.
Although the infection is serious given the low survival rate, Hardig beat the odds and survived the brain infection.
Hardig's doctors used several methods to kill the bacteria and aren't sure which one is credited to saving her life.
"It's a rare infection; most doctors have never seen this infection," said Dr. Jennifer Cope of the CDC. "So there's a possibility that recognizing this infection earlier, starting treatment earlier and aggressively managing the increased intracranial pressure, contributed to a better outcome."
The infection causes the brain to swell and almost always leads to death. Symptoms included headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting and can begin anywhere from one to seven days after the infection enters the body. Some also develop a stiff neck, confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations.
