A child in Arkansas has died after becoming infected with a rare, brain-eating amoeba while playing at a splash pad.
The child, whose name was not immediately released, appears to have contracted Naegleria fowleri from a country club splash pad in the state capital of Little Rock, Arkansas, health officials and the county coroner said in a news release.
Naegleria fowleri destroys brain tissue, causing brain swelling and almost always death.
It is an amoeba that lives in soil and warm freshwater lakes, rivers, ponds and hot springs. However, in rare instances, it has been transmitted to humans from swimming pools, surf parks and other under-chlorinated bodies of water, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Arkansas department of health said their investigation into the child’s death concluded that a splash pad at the Country Club of Little Rock was to blame for the transmission. The club has since closed off the pool.
Deaths related to the amoeba remain relatively rare. Only about three people in the US are infected each year, but these infections are usually fatal. The last case reported in Arkansas was in 2013.
The fatality rate is more than 97% – only four people have survived from 157 known infected individuals in the US from 1962 to 2022.
Symptoms of an infection by the single-celled organism – which enters the body through the nose and then travels to the brain – typically start with severe headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. They then progress to stiff neck, seizures, and coma that can lead to death.
Infections have also been found to occur among people using contaminated tap water to cleanse their noses during religious practices or to rinse their sinuses (sending water up the nose), according to the CDC.
The amoeba typically thrives in warm water and is typically found in male youths, especially those age 14 or younger, possibly because they are more likely to be diving into the water and playing in the sediment at the bottom of lakes and rivers.
“Since the amoebae are more likely to live in the sediment at the bottom of lakes, ponds, or rivers, swimmers should also avoid digging or stirring up the sediment,” the CDC says.
But the body also warns that evidence suggests the geographical areas where Naegleria fowleri is typically found – lakes in Texas and Florida – are expanding northwards as a result of climate change. Since 2010, cases have been confirmed in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland and northern California.
“Climate change may be a contributing factor,” the health agency says. The CDC adds that higher air and water temperatures – and lower water levels – “provide a more favorable environment for the amoeba to grow”.
“Heatwaves, when air and water temperatures may be higher than usual, may also allow the amoebae to thrive,” the CDC says.
Behaviors associated with the infection include diving or jumping into the water, putting the head under water, or engaging in other activities that cause water to go up the nose.
