Murrieta firefighter dies from brain-eating amoeba

A veteran Murrieta firefighter has died after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that usually lives in soil, the city Fire Department said in a statement Tuesday.
The disease was first identified in 1990 after a mandrill baboon at the San Diego Wild Animal park was infected.
Doctors aren't sure how the parasite infects humans, but an infectious-disease expert said it appears that only people with weakened immune systems are at risk.

More than 100 cases have been reported. A 2004 study by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta showed the amoeba is particularly prevalent in California, where at least 11 cases have been reported

Well add brain-eating amoeba to the list of dangerous things.


www.sfgate.com.../n/a/2008/03/12/state/n132302D77.DTL

Good lord...with everything else in the world to be worried about, now this. That's a totally horrible way to die, and the mortality rate suggests that death is almost certain. I hope they can come up with more information about this...

It states in the article that the amoeba lives in soil and that not too many people are exposed to dirt...what the heck?! I dig in my garden all the time. The kids dig in the gardens and dirt piles all the time. Time to start using my gardening gloves again I think

Michelle