Latest news with #infection
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Health
- Globe and Mail
South Carolina parents call for safety warnings after son killed by brain-eating amoeba in lake
Two weeks after Jaysen Carr spent the Fourth of July swimming and riding on a boat on one of South Carolina's most popular lakes, he was dead from an amoeba that lives in the warm water and entered his brain through his nose. His parents had no clue the brain-eating amoeba, whose scientific name is Naegleria fowleri, even existed in Lake Murray, just 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of Columbia. They found out when a doctor, in tears, told them the diagnosis after what seemed like a fairly regular headache and nausea took a serious turn. Jaysen, 12, fought for a week before dying on July 18, making him one of about 160 people known to have died from the amoeba in the U.S. in the past 60 years. As they grieve their son, the boy's parents said they were stunned to learn South Carolina, like most other U.S. states, has no law requiring public reporting of deaths or infections from the amoeba. The lake wasn't closed and no water testing was performed. If they hadn't spoken up, they wonder if anyone would have even known what happened. 'I can't believe we don't have our son. The result of him being a child was losing his life. That does not sit well. And I am terrified it will happen to someone else,' Clarence Carr told The Associated Press as his wife sat beside him, hugging a stuffed tiger that had a recording of their middle child's heartbeat. What is the brain-eating amoeba that killed an American boy swimming in a lake? Jaysen loved sports. He played football and baseball. He loved people, too. As soon as he met you, he was your friend, his father said. He was smart enough to have skipped a grade in school and to play several instruments in his middle school band in Columbia. 'He either loved you or he just didn't know you,' his father said. 'He was the type of person who could go to a jump park and five minutes later say, 'This is my friend James.'' Friends invited Jaysen and his family for the Fourth of July holiday weekend on the lake, where Jaysen spent hours swimming, fishing and riding on an inner tube that was being pulled by a boat. 'Mom and Dad, that was the best Fourth of July I've ever had,' Clarence Carr remembered his son telling him. A few days later, Jaysen's head started to hurt. Pain relievers helped. But the next day the headache got worse and he started throwing up. He told the emergency room doctors exactly where he was hurting. But soon he started to get disoriented and lethargic. The amoeba was in his brain, already causing an infection and destroying brain tissue. It entered through his nose as water was forced deep into his nasal passages, possibly from one of the times Jaysen jumped into the water. It then travelled along his olfactory nerve into his brain. The amoeba caused an infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis. Fewer than 10 people a year get it in the U.S., and over 95% of them die. The last death from the amoeba in South Carolina was in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amoeba is fairly common. There is no science-based threshold for what level of the organism in the water would be safe or unsafe, and it would be difficult to test water regularly, the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services said in a statement. Researchers are still trying to figure out why the infections are so rare. Some people have been found to have had antibodies, signalling they may have survived exposure. Others may die from brain swelling and other problems without the amoeba ever being detected. Last year, the CDC started a pilot program of giving infected patients an antibiotic approved for use in Europe that has killed the amoeba in lab studies The amoeba becomes dangerous in water that stays over 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius) and for years has been seen almost exclusively in the summer in the southern part of the country. But a few recent cases have popped up in Maryland, Indiana and Minnesota, scientists said. The CDC said 167 cases of the infection have been reported in the U.S. between 1962 and 2024, and only four people have survived. One infection in a body of water doesn't increase the chances of another infection in the same body of water, the CDC said. The amoeba cannot move from one person to another. Boys seem most susceptible, but researchers don't know if that is simply because they are more likely to jump and dive into the water or play in sediment at the bottom of lakes. The amoeba can show up in hot springs, rivers and, on rare occasions, in tap water. That's why doctors recommend using sterile water for cleaning nasal passages with a neti pot. The only way to be completely safe is to not swim in lakes or rivers and, if you do, keep your head above water. Pinching your nose or using nose clips when diving or swimming can keep water out of your nose. As he sat in an intensive care hospital room with his son, Clarence Carr couldn't help but think of all the people on the lake. He wondered if any of them had any clue about the microscopic danger in that water. 'There are entire families out there on pontoon boats, jumping off, just like our kids were having the time of their lives,' he said. 'It very well could be their last moments, and they are unaware of it.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Sight of someone potentially infectious causes immune response, research suggests
Whether it's the person brandishing a tissue on the train or the child with the telltale signs of chickenpox, the threat of an infection can be enough for us to beat a retreat. Now researchers using virtual reality avatars have shown that the mere sight of a potentially contagious person is enough to mobilise our immune system too. 'Although surprising, our finding that immune responses can be triggered by simulated infections presented in VR is consistent with the principle of the smoke detector in biological systems,' the authors said, adding the behavioural system that helps us avoid catching diseases is 'exquisitely sensitive' to cues that may suggest someone is sick. Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the researchers reported how they fitted 248 healthy people with VR headsets and carried out five experiments, each involving a minimum of 32 participants. In each experiment, participants initially watched three faces of the same sex as themselves repeatedly loom towards them, bearing a neutral expression. Participants were then split into groups and shown the same three faces multiple times, either with a neutral expression or signs of viral infections such as skin rashes. In some experiments, an additional subset of participants were shown the faces displaying an expression of fear. In one experiment, participants were asked to press a button as fast as possible after receiving a mild touch to their face while an avatar was shown. The team found that when the avatars showed signs of sickness, participants pressed the button when the faces appeared further away than for faces showing a neutral or fearful expression. Results from EEG tests to investigate the electrical activity of the brain tallied with these findings. As expected, as avatars loomed closer, the brain system that represents the space closely surrounding our body became activated. However, this activation differed when the avatars showed signs of infection compared with neutral expressions, even when they appeared far away. These differences, the team add, were localised in areas of the brain involved in detecting and filtering threats. The team found that functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans supported these results, further revealing that when infectious avatars were shown there was a greater connection between this threat-detection network and part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which acts as a key regulation centre for the body. The team also found differences in participants' blood when they were shown the infectious avatars compared with neutral or fearful faces. '[In terms of cells], we saw mainly that there is an activation of an immune cell family called the innate lymphoid cells (ILCs)that [are] early responders in immunity to basically alarm other immune cells,' said Prof Camilla Jandus of the University of Geneva and an author of the study. The team added that they found a similar activation of ILCs when they examined the blood of individuals who had received an influenza vaccine but had not been exposed to the VR setup. Dr Esther Diekhof of the University of Hamburg, who was not involved in the work, said the study chimed with previous research, including that of her own team. 'The study provides yet another good example for the existence of a mechanism that responds to potential contagion threats even before the immune system has come into contact with pathogens,' she said. But Prof Benedict Seddon, of University College London, said questions remained, including whether the observed responses help the immune system actually fight an infection. 'When we get infected, by Sars-CoV for instance, it can take a day or two for the infection to establish and for the immune system to become aware of it and respond, a long time after the initial encounter that stimulated this short-lived mobilisation,' he said.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Sight of someone potentially infectious causes immune response, research suggests
Whether it's the person brandishing a tissue on the train or the child with the telltale signs of chickenpox, the threat of an infection can be enough for us to beat a retreat. Now researchers using virtual reality avatars have shown that the mere sight of a potentially contagious person is enough to mobilise our immune system too. 'Although surprising, our finding that immune responses can be triggered by simulated infections presented in VR is consistent with the principle of the smoke detector in biological systems,' the authors said, adding the behavioural system that helps us avoid catching diseases is 'exquisitely sensitive' to cues that may suggest someone is sick. Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the researchers reported how they fitted 248 healthy people with VR headsets and carried out five experiments, each involving a minimum of 32 participants. In each experiment, participants initially watched three faces of the same sex as themselves repeatedly loom towards them, bearing a neutral expression. Participants were then split into groups and shown the same three faces multiple times, either with a neutral expression or signs of viral infections such as skin rashes. In some experiments, an additional subset of participants were shown the faces displaying an expression of fear. In one experiment, participants were asked to press a button as fast as possible after receiving a mild touch to their face while an avatar was shown. The team found that when the avatars showed signs of sickness, participants pressed the button when the faces appeared further away than for faces showing a neutral or fearful expression. Results from EEG tests to investigate the electrical activity of the brain tallied with these findings. As expected, as avatars loomed closer, the brain system that represents the space closely surrounding our body became activated. However, this activation differed when the avatars showed signs of infection compared with neutral expressions, even when they appeared far away. These differences, the team add, were localised in areas of the brain involved in detecting and filtering threats. The team found that functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans supported these results, further revealing that when infectious avatars were shown there was a greater connection between this threat-detection network and part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which acts as a key regulation centre for the body. The team also found differences in participants' blood when they were shown the infectious avatars compared with neutral or fearful faces. '[In terms of cells], we saw mainly that there is an activation of an immune cell family called the innate lymphoid cells (ILCs)that [are] early responders in immunity to basically alarm other immune cells,' said Prof Camilla Jandus of the University of Geneva and an author of the study. The team added that they found a similar activation of ILCs when they examined the blood of individuals who had received an influenza vaccine but had not been exposed to the VR setup. Dr Esther Diekhof of the University of Hamburg, who was not involved in the work, said the study chimed with previous research, including that of her own team. 'The study provides yet another good example for the existence of a mechanism that responds to potential contagion threats even before the immune system has come into contact with pathogens,' she said. But Prof Benedict Seddon, of University College London, said questions remained, including whether the observed responses help the immune system actually fight an infection. 'When we get infected, by Sars-CoV for instance, it can take a day or two for the infection to establish and for the immune system to become aware of it and respond, a long time after the initial encounter that stimulated this short-lived mobilisation,' he said.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
This Morning guest breaks down in tears as he recalls weeks before he lost his wife to rabies after getting scratched by a dog on holiday
A This Morning guest broke down in tears as he spoke about losing his wife to rabies after she was scratched by a puppy on holiday in Morocco. Yvonne Ford passed away aged 59 on June 11 after she was scratched by a stray dog who had been lying under her sunbed back in February. 'Rabies is a rare but serious infection that's usually caught from a bite or scratch of an infected animal. It's almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but vaccination and early treatment can prevent it,' according to the NHS. Her husband Ron and her two children Robyn and Adam appeared on the ITV show on Monday to raise awareness about the viral disease and how to prevent a devastating death. Speaking about the trip, Ron said: 'We went to Morocco for a winter break. Two days before we came home, we were on the beach on the hotel, lots of dogs were running about everywhere... 'There was a puppy underneath her sunbed, she put her leg down and it startled the dog, it scratched her. It didn't bleed. It didn't really mark her... 'So I asked her, should we go see somebody, she said "it's not bled so"... you're unaware. 'That was the second to last day of the holiday, no illness. No nothing. Went home. A month later, still nothing, no symptoms whatsoever.' Host Dermot O'Leary pointed out that they had been on another trip just weeks before her tragic death, to which Ron said: 'In May we went to Florida, in fact on 21st, she was dancing around a poll with my granddaughter...' Ron then got extremely emotional, took a deep breath and put his head down at the ground as he started to cry. 'Sorry Ron,' Dermot said. 'Take a minute Ron.' Dermot asked: 'When did the symptoms first arise?' Robyn explained: 'We came back from Florida on the 23rd of May, the following week my dad and mum went to York on a fishing trip in the campervan. 'On the Saturday my mum started with a horrendous headache, unbearable headache, she couldn't sleep at all. 'The Monday after, my dad had taken her to A&E because her headache was so severe, the Monday she went into hospital, walking talking, doing everything. 'Come the Friday, she couldn't walk, talk, swallow, she had a fear of water, she was horrendously hallucinating, beyond what we could imagine. 'She just deteriorated within five days.' Doctor Nighat Arif appeared on the sofa to give viewers tips on what to do before going on holiday. She said: 'Immediately before going on holiday, there is a rabies vaccine that we can give. 'Its available privately for travel. We know 59,000 cases of rabies or deaths across the world in 150 countries. 'Pales like Morocco, Asia, Africa, north Africa, the world has become such a small place now, we don't think about it. 'We've managed to irradicate it in Europe.' She continued: 'If you have a scratch, most immediate thing to do is wash it with soup and water, clean the wound. 'It's not always just a scratch that we get from kittens, or dogs or bats, it could be licking of the nose, tongue, lips, eyes, wash all of that out. 'There is post exposure treatment you can be given as well.' Dermot thanked the family for appearing on the show and asked: 'What's the one message you would like to send to anyone?' Adam said: 'Just check the recommendations from the government, Morocco was only recommended for rabies. it's not a "you have to do it". Just check. 'We don't want people to go through what we've gone through. Seeing your mum deteriorate in seven days like that. we don't want anyone to go through that ever again. 'If we can get the awareness out, just check, check, check, contact your doctor. Get the injections. That's all we want.' This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV. By Mary Kekatos, Health Reporter for Rabies is a virus that attacks the central nervous system and the brain. It is almost 100 percent fatal if left untreated. The virus spreads to people via the saliva of infected animals, usually from a bite, but the saliva can also enter through a cut or break in the skin. In the US, the animals that most commonly transmit rabies are bats, coyotes, foxes, raccoons and skunks. Signs and symptoms: Fever Headache Vomiting Excessive salivation Difficulty swallowing Confusion Hallucination The virus can lay dormant in the body between one and three months in what is known as the 'incubation period'. When a person begins showing symptoms, the disease has usually progressed to a point where it is fatal. Those who believe they've been bitten by a rabid animal should wash their wound with soap and water and immediately seek medical attention. Treatment: The Mayo Clinic states that two forms of medication need to be given, within 10 days of infection. Rabies immune globulin shot: Gives a person antibodies against the virus and should be administered near the bite site as soon as possible after the bite Series of vaccine shots: Helps the body make its own antibodies against the virus. There are four shots that are administered over 14 days According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have only been 23 cases reported of rabies in the US from 2008 to 2017, with eight of those being contracted outside the US and its territories. There are typically one to three cases reported every year, the agency says.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Family of boy who died from brain-eating amoeba speaks out: 'Unimaginable'
The family of a 12-year-old boy from South Carolina is grieving after he died from a brain-eating amoeba, according to a statement from their lawyer. Jaysen Carr died on July 18 after developing an infection from the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri, the statement shared by Bailey Law Firm said. The South Carolina Department of Public Health confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY on July 23 that a person died after being exposed to the amoeba earlier in July. Prisma Health Children's Hospital Midlands confirmed on July 22 that the person was treated at the facility but did not publicly identify the person. "The Carr family is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of love from the community and for the dedicated care provided by the doctors and nurses at Prisma Health Children's Hospital in the Midlands," the statement said. Brain-eating amoeba victim was 'bright and beloved' middle schooler The statement from the Carr family's lawyer said Jaysen was a "bright and beloved" middle school student. "His loss is unimaginable, and our hearts are with his family as they grieve their son and search for answers," the statement said. The legal team said it will "stand beside this family not only to seek the truth, but to help ensure no other family endures a loss like this." "We ask that you keep the Carrs in your thoughts and prayers and respect their privacy as they prepare to lay Jaysen to rest," Bailey Law Firm's statement said. Brain-eating amoeba: Person dies from Naegleria fowleri in South Carolina, officials say Family says boy was infected with brain-eating amoeba at SC lake The family's statement also said Jaysen Carr developed the infection after swimming at Lake Murray outside Columbia. The SCDPH said it also believed the exposure occurred at the lake. "We cannot be completely certain as this organism occurs naturally and is present in many warm water lakes, rivers and streams," the agency said. What is Naegleria fowleri? Why is it known as a brain-eating amoeba? Naegleria fowleri is a type of amoeba that can cause a rare but nearly always fatal brain infection. It thrives in warm freshwater lakes, rivers and hot springs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amoeba is often referred to as brain-eating because it can cause an infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) that destroys brain tissue. Most people who have been in bodies of waters have been exposed to the amoeba, but contact alone is not harmful, Dr. Anna Kathryn Burch, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Prisma Health Children's Hospital Midlands, said during a news conference on July 22. "Where it can cause an issue is if forceful water gets up the nose and is able to cross from the nose into the brain," Burch said, adding that a PAM infection causes the brain to swell. To protect against a possible infection, the CDC recommends holding or wearing a nose clip when jumping into fresh water, keeping the head above water in hot springs and using distilled or boiled tap water when rinsing sinuses. Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 12-year-old dies from brain-eating amoeba after swimming in lake
