WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Rare brain infection from swimming

August 17, 2011

A deadly brain infection killed 9-year-old Christian Strickland. A week after going to a fishing camp near his Richmond, Va., home, he complained of a headache. The next morning he didn't want to get out of bed, was falling asleep in an instant and didn't seem to recognize his family.

It was the same story in Florida where 16-year-old Courtney Nash went swimming in a river and died a week later. The killer is a microscopic amoeba living in freshwater lakes, rivers and hot springs.

"Unfortunately, when people get into the water, if they're swimming, they can potentially stir up the sediment and this amoeba essentially goes up the nose and then causes a severe brain infection," said Dr. Michael Beach, the associate director for healthy water at the Centers for Disease Control.

The illness is rare; killing about 117 people since the early 1960s. The infection attacks brain tissue and kills quickly. Usually in one to 12 days. But it isn't contagious. So the CDC recommends if a person has headaches, a stiff neck and vomiting after being in warm, fresh water, to contact a doctor immediately. The CDC also suggests holding your nose or wearing nose clips, trying not to stir up sediment while swimming, and avoiding shallow, warm water.

"We think this is really related to water temperature. So you see it in the Southern tier states at the bottom of the U.S.," Beach said.

Every year there are 0-8 cases of the deadly illness. Texas and Florida have the majority of infections.

But doctors stress these illnesses are rare and say bacteria in your backyard pool are much more likely to make you sick.

CBS News