Click for story. Boy dies of disease from stagnant water By CAROL CHRISTIAN Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle A Houston-area boy -- the third child in Texas this year -- has died from a rare disease thought to be contracted through inhaling stagnant water. The boy, who died Sunday from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare form of meningitis, had been skiing and swimming in Lake Travis near Austin the previous weekend. Health officials did not identify the child. Earlier this month, a Tyler-area girl and a Dallas-area boy died from the same noncontagious illness. She had been swimming in Lake Hawkins and Lake Palestine near Tyler, he in Cedar Creek Lake southeast of Dallas. Infection is believed to occur when water containing a common amoeba is forced into the nasal passages, usually when diving, jumping into water or water skiing. The amoeba is found in almost all untreated surface water and in soil, but not in saltwater or well-maintained pools treated with chlorine. Little is known about the disease, said Neil Pascoe, Texas Department of Health epidemiologist. "Because this is a rare event, we don't have all the information we would like," he said Monday. "We have only a working hypothesis." According to that hypothesis, the amoeba penetrates the mucous membrane in the sinuses and gets into the olfactory nerve, which controls the sense of smell. From there, the microorganism goes into the brain and spinal cord, where it leads to infection and usually death within a week. Symptoms include severe headaches, high fever, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, seizures and hallucinations. The health department recommends that no one swim in stagnant or polluted water or areas posted "No swimming." Swimmers should hold their noses or use nose plugs when jumping into lakes, rivers, ponds or other bodies of fresh water, and should avoid swallowing water. Skiers should use nose plugs. Texas typically has one to three cases a year, but it is difficult to determine the incidence rate, Pascoe said. "You have to define the population at risk -- people who (swim) in non-chlorinated bodies of water," he said. This is really a scary thought. It seems as though nothing is safe anymore. Will this discovery affect any of your swimming habits?
