Person in Georgia dies of brain-eating amoeba after swimming in freshwater lake – second US victim in two weeks

A person in Georgia has died from a deadly brain-eating amoeba, health officials say — the second fatality in two weeks.

The person, who has not been named, is believed to have caught Naegleria fowleri after swimming in a freshwater lake or pond.

The Georgia Department of Health revealed the matter over the weekend and advises people not to swim in hot water.

It comes just weeks after a two-year-old boy died after contracting a deadly brain-eating amoeba while swimming in Nevada.

Doctors say cases of the disease have “increased significantly” over the past four to five years as higher temperatures heat up stagnant bodies of water where the amoebas thrive.

It was not clear where the person had been swimming before being diagnosed with the disease.

There are more than 30 lakes in Georgia, the most popular of which – Lake Lanier in the north of the state – attracts up to 11 million visitors annually.

The case is the sixth discovered in the state since 1962 and the second in two weeks. Two-year-old Woodrow Bundy died on July 20 after contracting the disease while swimming in a Nevada lake.

Warning that the disease is becoming more common, Dr. Dennis Kyle, the chief of cell biology at the University of Georgia FOX8“We are experiencing warmer temperatures and these amoebae are thermally tolerant…so the number of amoebae will be higher.”

“Warmer climate means, yes, more exposure and more cases.”

He added that over the past four to five years, the number of reported cases had “increased significantly.”

Naegleria fowleri are small, single-celled organisms found in warm fresh water such as lakes and rivers. They cannot survive in salt water and are not transmitted from person to person.

Generally, the amoeba enters through the nose and travels through the sinuses to the brain, where it causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis – a rare and usually fatal brain infection.

It spreads nerves to the brain, where it multiplies and destroys tissue and causes the brain to swell.

In the early stages, patients initially experience headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, but days and weeks later they may also experience hallucinations and seizures.

Only five of the more than 150 people who got the microscopic bug in the US between 1962 and 2023 have survived.

It comes after toddler Woodrow died after contracting a deadly brain-eating amoeba while swimming in Nevada.

Pictured above is how a Naegleria fowleri infection develops and how the disease spreads to the brain

His mother, Briana Bundy, announced the two-year-old’s death in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

She wrote, “Woodrow Turner Bundy returned victorious to our Father in Heaven at 2:56 AM.

“He’s my hero and I will forever be thankful to God for giving me the sweetest baby boy on earth, and I’m thankful to know I’ll have that boy in heaven one day.”

Woodrow died on July 19 from the nearly fatal infection caused by Naegleria fowleri. Only a handful of Americans have ever survived.