Reply to Freaking out about having lake water pushed up my nose

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These cases are rare enough that they make national news. And anecdotally, I’ve never read of acase that was two weeks after exposure - it was always pretty quick.

If there were a danger I’d bacteria in the lake, there would be signs posted - especially at a resort! We are in Oregon and saw signs posted by a pond just yesterday. This resort doesn’t want people falling ill, and I imagine they test the water.[/quote]

It's a brain eating amoeba that the OP is afraid of, not bacteria.  It's a single cell organism that usually eats other small organisms like bacteria but when it goes up the nose, it eats it's way up the nerves leading to the brain and once it reaches the brain multiplies and they eat your brain.  That's what the OP is afraid of except it's exceptionally rare.[/quote]

Is it just one!  One amoeba that kills you?[/quote]

Yes, it's called Naegleria fowleri.  If you're in a fresh water lake swimming and you disturb the sediment at the bottom of the lake then get it up your nose, the amoeba (if it gets up your sinuses) can eat your brain.  It multiplies like mad inside your head though.

Most people do not survive.
https://www.today.com/health/texas-girl-contracted-brain-eating-amoeba-while-swimming-t162600
Very very very few have survived by being caught early using newer treatments.  It used to have a 100% fatality rate, now it's more like 99%.  
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/treatment.html
After 35 years without a Naegleria survivor in the United States, during the summer of 2013, two children with Naegleria fowleri infection survived. The first, a 12-year-old girl, was diagnosed with PAM approximately 30 hours after becoming ill and was started on the recommended treatment within 36 hours. She also received the investigational drug miltefosine 7-9 and her brain swelling was aggressively managed with treatments that included cooling the body below normal body temperature (therapeutic hypothermia). This patient made a full neurologic recovery and returned to school. Her recovery has been attributed to early diagnosis and treatment and novel therapeutics including miltefosine and hypothermia 5.

The second child, an 8-year-old male, is also considered a PAM survivor, although he has suffered what is likely to be permanent brain damage. He was also treated with miltefosine but was diagnosed and treated several days after his symptoms began. Cooling of the body below normal body temperature was not used 6.

In the summer of 2016, a 16-year-old boy was reported as the 4th U.S. PAM survivor. This patient was diagnosed within hours of presentation to the hospital and was treated with the same protocol used for the 12-year-old 2013 survivor. This patient also made a full neurologic recovery and returned to school.

https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/08/21/brain-eating-amoeba-victim-shows-signs-of-recovery
Brain-Eating Amoeba Victim Shows Signs of Recovery[/quote]

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