Amoebas

Anyone know anything about the recent Amoeba case in Orlando?

Havent heard of that one yet. They are no joke though. My dads best friend lost their daughter a few years back from the warm water amoeba :[

http://www.wftv.com/news/21028180/detail.html

very sad, best of luck to him and his family

Very very sad. thoughts and prayers with everyone.

The thing is OWC is cooler than many of the other lakes in Otown. I guess with a higher number of people in the water, and them crashing it can be more likely, but I would think you'd hear of the wakeskaters hitting the ditches and retention ponds falling victim before there.

If I owned OWC, I would clorinate (sp?) it.

Don't frolic in the shallow water. Unfortunately that's where the small children always are when in the lake. Too bad there are no specifics on this guys activities other than being at OWC.

seems like a case or two like this pops up every year. Major bummer.

I guess there is no chemical that they can treet the water with to kill the Amoeba? Man what a suck way to go.

Condolences to the friends and family.

Chlorination is not realistic in a body of water the size OWC, but would start thinking in the direction of testing the water when the temps get high enough to grow the amoebas.

I personally get a little leary of fresh water that gets real warm and try to avoid it getting in my mouth....used to have a bad habit of of squirting it out of my mouth. Of course when you take a digger on a board it is impossible to prevent nasal/oral contact with the water.

(Message edited by bmartin on September 24, 2009)

that sucks. so every case is deadly?

How warm does the water have to be?

It's my understanding that the water cannot be tested for the amoeba either. Obviously, if you test the water and find the amoeba then you have a problem. However, if you test the water and find no amoeba, that does not mean that there are no amoebas in the water. It just means that you didn't get any in your sample. The only way to be sure there aren't any at all is to test the entire body of water.

I also understand that the amoeba is present in up to 70% of the bodies of water in the U.S. However, it stays in a cocoon until the water reaches the right temperature and then it's very difficult for it to be ingested. Unfortunately, when this does happen, it's usually fatal.

Our prayers go out to this guy and his family!

It makes me happy that in MN the lakes freeze every year, like a natural cleaning.

I believe it's in the 80 degree area. Pretty much all water has it, and it's dormant in the sediments until it gets warm enough and comes out.

So if lakes freeze, or come close to it, does it kill them?

I actually did a presentation on this species for school after the last kid died at OWC. Its everywhere (freshwater). Can be in anything from swimming pools to lakes. It has to be ~85F or higher to become dangerous. More abundant in stagnant water and super bad when shallow water is churned up. I kinda wish I had not done the presentation bc now I get super paranoid. The scariest part is by the time you begin to show symptoms its usually too late.

(Message edited by wakejjboard12 on September 24, 2009)

The species is Naegleria fowleri if you guys wanna google it for more info.

Man that is really scary...me and my girlfriend rode cable for the first time in august during the weekend of worlds. I had a blast but everytime I fell that amoeba case I read about last year was in the back of my mind.

Evan, my wife and I swim in the middle of our lake about 4-5 times a week for about a half hour after I board. It's a pretty rare problem and I doubt that OWC is worse than any other lake.

man that is awful.

We were there Wed before this came about. The water at owc is not hot at all but I guess if that was the only place he had been in water it must of came from there. The health dept said that testing would cause undue panic & that they might or might not find anything while testing.

anyone know who it was that passed away?

They wont release the man's name but Owc's water is pretty clean and all of the tests have come back negative for the ameoba even though you cannot test all of the water. the kid that died last year got it from lake jessamine which tested positive for it. I ride at owc everyday throughout the entire year when the water is at its warmest and Ive taken so many falls and have gotten water up my nasal cavity at least 10 times this season and I have been fine the only thing that has happend is Ive just gotten a cold from getting water so far up my nose.

Here is one that was just on the news in Tampa. A 10 year old kid died from the amoeba. It also says the 22 y/o that got it from OWC died.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/polk/Child_10_dead_from_amoeba_inf

^ The OWC case wasn't from OWC if I remember, it turned out it was from the kid's home lake.

Wow, kind of scary. I see the last case of this was at my old home lake in Riverside county CA, Lake Elsinore, doesn't surprise me one bit that place is nasty.

Thank god it's cooling off,

funny, all lakes, Ca lakes get pretty warm, Pedro on labor day weekend read as high as 82 degrees in some spots, but never heard of a single case in Ca or even Az.

^^ check Lake elsinore and also Lake Havasu

What temp does this sort of thing start happening... AR lakes are in their 80's as well and it was a cold year...

it grows in water from 75-95* F... but that is consistent, it needs time in that water to incubate

Kids have died from it in AZ and CA too... but only one in each.

We had another case of it here in my area. A 10 year old boy died a few days ago. In 1980 a kid died here as well, so the ameobas have been around forever.
Its unfortunate that OWC has been linked to so many cases in the past couple years. Even if the kids didnt get it from there, OWC has still been in the media as being a possible source for the bacteria. Which cant be good for business.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20090929/NEWS/909289971/1338/NEWS08?Title=Boy-Dies-From-Rare-Form-of-Encephalitis

(Message edited by woreout on October 02, 2009)

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090929/NEWS/909289971/1338/NEWS08?Title=Boy-Dies-From-Rare-Form-of-Encephalitis
Its a shame the boys parents were doctors as well and couldnt do anything for him.

The 10yr old that died contracted the amoeba on my home lake. The amoeba lives in the shallow water near the shore. Normally they eat the decaying vegetation but when the water heats up they start to become more prevalent. When the bottom gets stirred up is when they venture out. Like said earlier it is where children normally play. Once you start to see signs death usually occurs in a few days. I have been doing some reading on it because me and my 2yr old son were swimming and wakeboarding in the same lake the day before the news was released. My thoughts go out to the family. I cant imagine how it would be to loose a child and hope to never find out. Here is a little light reading on the subject for those that may be interested.
http://www.ecofloridamag.com/amoebae.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri

Wow Derek that must be nerve racking! I'm going to see if my micro professor can do a lecture on it, seems interesting.