Another reason to hate Florida: Brain-eating Amoebas

[lordofgun]

ORLANDO, Fla., July 25 (UPI) -- Florida Hospital Orlando listed a 12-year-old Oviedo, Fla., boy in critical condition Thursday from amoebas that attacked his brain after a swim in a central Florida lake.

The rare condition is not contagious, but it is usually fatal, said Dr. Jaime Carrizosa, an infectious disease specialist at the hospital.

"We're doing everything we can for him, but this is a very serious infection," Carrizosa said. "Once inside the body, these amoebas just divide and divide, and you will have an overwhelming infection very quickly."

Although the state has counted only 19 cases since 1962, the infectious amoebas are common in Florida's freshwater lakes and rivers. Doctors say they get into the brain after the swimmer takes them into his or her nostrils.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020725-100255-1720r

[Valerie]

That's just gross, Log. Maybe we should bring the amoebas up to Crofton and let them kill the snake fish. :D

[LtBillsFan66]

LOG,

You obviously visit drudgereport too. I like that site. :D

[SABURZFAN]

i don't know but it's pretty bad when you can't go for a refreshing swim without something killing you.especially when you can't see it.

[Sabre Ally]

that's what swimming pools are for, so you don't have to swim with those things :rolleyes:

[Valerie]

Seriously, it's not funny. When I was 15 we were up at a lake in the Adirondacks (Paradox Lake) and I was walking down to our boat, lost in thought and not paying any attention to where I was going. I walked off the side of the dock, into the lake. Only my left foot ended up going into the water, my right foot was still on the dock. Anyway, I cut myself between my toes, a cut about 1/4 of an inch long. When I took my foot out of the water, I had a blood clot was the size of a baseball around the cut and the top of my foot was swollen to twice its size and black and blue. All in a matter of minutes! We were leaving the next day to go back to Long Island and I didn't want to go see a "hick" doctor, I wanted to see a "real" doctor at home. I went to the emergency room on Saturday night, on crutches because I couldn't walk on my foot, it hurt so much. They cleaned out the cut and told me to see my regular doctor on Monday. I went to the doctor's Monday afternoon and after a quick exam, I was immediately sent to the hospital to be admitted. I had a severe blood infection the had traveled from my foot to my groin and the doctor said that in a few more hours I would've had blood poisoning! I was hooked up to an IV and put on medicine for 7 days! Apparently some parasite from the lake got into my blood from that tiny cut on my foot. It was very scary!!!

[shelby]

i think Florida is a very happenin place.:D

[Halbert]

I heard Catherine Harris swims there a lot.

[Valerie]

Who's Catherine Harris?

[LtBillsFan66]

I once had a leech stuck to my foot. My friend pulled it off.

[shelby]

LMAO at Halbert!! How true!
:lol:
i moved down here just to teach these people how to vote.

[Ebenezer]

Ameobas ate my brain long ago.

[Sabre Ally]

Amoebas, Eb? I thought you worked with rodents in grad school. ;)

[Ebenezer]

yes...they only gave me allergies...the amoebas ate their way in somewhere in my early 20s.

[northernbillfan]

Shelby should invite her ex down, and tell him to go swimming.

[shelby]

:lol:
thanks nbf....great idea!

[Ebenezer]

naw, that's too easy of a death!