Brain-eating amoeba in Lake Lilly kills young boy

Dr. Ellen Brisch, MSUM, provides information on Naegleria fowleri.

By: WDAY Staff Reports, WDAY

Lake Lilly, MN (WDAY TV) — A warning, but also some assurances, from the Minnesota State Health Department tonight concerning that horrible brain-eating death of a 9-year old boy.

The health department is investigating the Naegleria fowleri, as the amoeba responsible for the boy’s death. The health department said today, the lake the boy was swimming in was a shallow, warm body of water. The amoeba thrives in warm, stagnant water.

But scientists say the risk is low for anyone contacting the illness in Minnesota, and so families in our area should not be panicking.

Dr. Ellen Brisch, MSUM Bioscience Chair, says, “this is incredibly rare according to CDC we have had 32 deaths in the last 10 years in contrast there have been 36 000 drownings it enters through the nose so a fix would be nose clips or make sure they breath out their nose or hold nose when they do a cannon ball.”

This is the 2nd death at Lake Lilly. The last in 2010. The amoeba is only found in fresh water. And is most common in southern states.

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