Date:         Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:04:53 +0000
Reply-To:     Trvlr2001@COMCAST.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "John C..." <Trvlr2001@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: warning to those considering Buses by the Bridge!
              brain-eating amoeba...

Lake Havasu;
I took a cold swim two yrs ago when I was there...
Ahh, that's what saved me...
Didn't wear my thong....
Scared all them thar Mebas away !!!! Hee hee....
JC...

-------------- Original message --------------
From: Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>

> On Sep 29, 2007, at 6:25 PM, Joy Hecht wrote:
>
> > I got this on a kayak list - didn't think it had a vanagon
> > connection until
> > I realized where this amoeba was killing people!
>
> I don't think Lake Havasu in January will be an amoeba problem! Now
> the rest of the year could be if you don't wear your nose plug w/
> your thong?
>
> Pax,
>
> Tom B.-what about your ears?
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Joy
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: nyckayaker-bounces@rockandwater.net
> > [mailto:nyckayaker-bounces@rockandwater.net] On Behalf Of David
> > Gottlieb
> > Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 8:27 AM
> > To: nyckayaker
> > Subject: NYCkayaker As if there aren't enough dangers to kayakers
> > outthere...
> >
> >
> >
> > This seems like an Enquirer headline... But it is for real....
> > Better wear
> >
> > those nose clips....
> >
> >
> >
> > Here is the link to the story below:
> >
> >
> >
> > http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KILLER_AMOEBA?
> > SITE=KTVK&SECTION=HOME&
> >
> > TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
> >
> >
> >
> > Sep 29, 1:03 AM EDT
> >
> >
> >
> > 6 Die From Brain-Eating Amoeba in Lakes
> >
> >
> >
> > By CHRIS KAHN
> >
> > Associated Press Writer
> >
> >
> >
> > Other News Video
> >
> >
> >
> > Advertisement
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Buy AP Photo Reprints
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > PHOENIX (AP) -- It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer
> >
> > amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks
> > the
> >
> > brain where it feeds until you die.
> >
> >
> >
> > Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily
> > rare,
> >
> > it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases
> > has health
> >
> > officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.
> >
> >
> >
> > "This is definitely something we need to track," said Michael Beach, a
> >
> > specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for
> > Disease
> >
> > Control and Prevention.
> >
> >
> >
> > "This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does
> > better,"
> >
> > Beach said. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect
> > to see
> >
> > more cases."
> >
> >
> >
> > According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-
> > GLEER-ee-uh
> >
> > FOWL'-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to
> > 2004.
> >
> > This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases - three in
> >
> > Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only
> > several
> >
> > hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.
> >
> >
> >
> > In Arizona, David Evans said nobody knew his son, Aaron, was
> > infected with
> >
> > the amoeba until after the 14-year-old died on Sept. 17. At first,
> > the teen
> >
> > seemed to be suffering from nothing more than a headache.
> >
> >
> >
> > "We didn't know," Evans said. "And here I am: I come home and I'm
> > burying
> >
> > him."
> >
> >
> >
> > After doing more tests, doctors said Aaron probably picked up the
> > amoeba a
> >
> > week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu
> > (!!!), a
> > popular
> >
> > man-made lake on the Colorado River between Arizona and California.
> >
> >
> >
> > Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria lives
> >
> > almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools,
> > grazing
> >
> > off algae and bacteria in the sediment.
> >
> >
> >
> > Beach said people become infected when they wade through shallow
> > water and
> >
> > stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose -
> > say, by
> >
> > doing a somersault in chest-deep water - the amoeba can latch onto the
> >
> > olfactory nerve.
> >
> >
> >
> > The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain,
> > where it
> >
> > continues the damage, "basically feeding on the brain cells," Beach
> > said.
> >
> >
> >
> > People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches
> > and
> >
> > fevers. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage
> > such as
> >
> > hallucinations and behavioral changes, he said.
> >
> >
> >
> > Once infected, most people have little chance of survival. Some
> > drugs have
> >
> > stopped the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have been
> > attacked
> >
> > rarely survive, Beach said.
> >
> >
> >
> > "Usually, from initial exposure it's fatal within two weeks," he said.
> >
> >
> >
> > Researchers still have much to learn about Naegleria. They don't
> > know why,
> >
> > for example, children are more likely to be infected, and boys are
> > more
> >
> > often victims than girls.
> >
> >
> >
> > "Boys tend to have more boisterous activities (in water), but we're
> > not
> >
> > clear," Beach said.
> >
> >
> >
> > In central Florida, authorities started an amoeba phone hot line
> > advising
> >
> > people to avoid warm, standing water and areas with algae blooms.
> > Texas
> >
> > health officials also have issued warnings.
> >
> >
> >
> > People "seem to think that everything can be made safe, including
> > any river,
> >
> > any creek, but that's just not the case," said Doug McBride, a
> > spokesman for
> >
> > the Texas Department of State Health Services.
> >
> >
> >
> > Officials in the town of Lake Havasu City are discussing whether to
> > take
> >
> > action. "Some folks think we should be putting up signs. Some
> > people think
> >
> > we should close the lake," city spokesman Charlie Cassens said.
> >
> >
> >
> > Beach cautioned that people shouldn't panic about the dangers of the
> >
> > brain-eating bug. Cases are still extremely rare considering the
> > number of
> >
> > people swimming in lakes. The easiest way to prevent infection,
> > Beach said,
> >
> > is to use nose clips when swimming or diving in fresh water.
> >
> >
> >
> > "You'd have to have water going way up in your nose to begin with"
> > to be
> >
> > infected, he said.
> >
> >
> >
> > David Evans has tried to learn as much as possible about the amoeba
> > over the
> >
> > past month. But it still doesn't make much sense to him. His family
> > had gone
> >
> > to Lake Havasu countless times. Have people always been in danger?
> > Did city
> >
> > officials know about the amoeba? Can they do anything to kill them
> > off?
> >
> >
> >
> > Evans lives within eyesight of the lake. Temperatures hover in the
> > triple
> >
> > digits all summer, and like almost everyone else in this desert
> > region, the
> >
> > Evanses look to the lake to cool off.
> >
> >
> >
> > It was on David Evans' birthday Sept. 8 that he brought Aaron, his
> > other two
> >
> > children, and his parents to Lake Havasu. They ate sandwiches and
> > spent a
> >
> > few hours splashing around.
> >
> >
> >
> > "For a week, everything was fine," Evans said.
> >
> >
> >
> > Then Aaron got the headache that wouldn't go away. At the hospital,
> > doctors
> >
> > first suspected meningitis. Aaron was rushed to another hospital in
> > Las
> >
> > Vegas.
> >
> >
> >
> > "He asked me at one time, 'Can I die from this?'" David Evans said.
> > "We
> >
> > said, 'No, no.'"
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sept. 17, Aaron stopped breathing as his father held him in his
> > arms.
> >
> >
> >
> > "He was brain dead," Evans said. Only later did doctors and the CDC
> >
> > determine that the boy had been infected with Naegleria.
> >
> >
> >
> > "My kids won't ever swim on Lake Havasu again," he said.
> >
> >
> >
> > ---
> >
> >
> >
> > On the Net:
> >
> >
> >
> > More on the N. fowleri amoeba:
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/naegleria/factsht-
> > naegleria.htm#what