A swimmer has been killed by a uncommon brain-eating amoeba, which is believed to have contaminated them whereas they bathed in a US lake.

The individual, who has not been recognized, however hailed from the state of Georgia, died after publicity to the Naegleria fowleri organism which induced the an infection.

Georgia’s Department of Public Health mentioned the organism “destroys brain tissue, causing brain swelling and usually death”.

“The individual was likely infected while swimming in a freshwater lake or pond in Georgia,” officers added in a press release.

It is unclear precisely once they died or the place they had been swimming once they contracted the an infection.

“Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba (single-celled living organism) that lives in soil and warm, freshwater lakes, rivers, ponds, and hot springs,” the well being division mentioned.

It can’t be present in salt water like such because the ocean, in correctly handled consuming water or maintained swimming swimming pools.

The amoeba infects individuals when water enters the physique by way of the nostril – sometimes when swimming and submerging the pinnacle underwater.

It travels by way of the nostril to the mind, destroying its tissue and inflicting an an infection that’s virtually all the time deadly.

Infections may also stem from individuals utilizing contaminated faucet water to scrub their noses, with a Florida man killed in February after he rinsed his sinuses.

It can not infect individuals if swallowed – even when the water is contaminated – and doesn’t unfold from individual to individual.

Symptoms embrace complications, fever, nausea, lack of steadiness, disorientation, seizures and a stiff neck.

“Once symptoms start, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within about five days”, the well being division mentioned.

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The lethal an infection is uncommon, with solely about three individuals within the US contracting it annually, in response to official figures.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mentioned 29 infections had been reported within the nation from 2013 to 2022.

An antidote has been laborious to return by given the rarity of the an infection, however by way of a mix of medication sufferers have survived after ingesting the amoeba, the CDC web site outlines.

The Georgia Department of Public Health urged swimmers to “always assume there is a risk when they enter warm fresh water”.

It added: “If you choose to swim, you can reduce your risk of infection by limiting the amount of water that goes up the nose.”