BRAIN-EATING AMOEBAS: A WRONGFUL DEATH YOU CAN AVOID
February 19, 2018
If you are planning to head out of state to go to a water park, you may want to know about the risk of brain-eating amoebas. The amoebas have been in the news several times before, but in June 2017, it cost a young woman her life after she visited a water park in North Carolina. She was only 18. Her family now plans to sue the water park for her wrongful and preventable death.
Situations like this are difficult for anyone to deal with. In this case, the young woman had been whitewater rafting when the boat overturned and she went into the water at the U.S. National Whitewater Center’s attraction. Just a few days later, she was hospitalized and diagnosed with an infection from Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba. It took her life in 11 days.
If you plan to go to a waterpark, you can avoid this amoeba with a little bit of education. It’s most common in warm freshwater and soil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It doesn’t live in salt water, so it’s safer to go to pools or parks that use salt water in their systems. It enters the body through the nose where it has quick access to the brain, so wearing nose plugs and keeping your head above water can help you avoid an infection.
Incidents like this may be avoidable with the proper management of water systems. If you lose a loved one due to this infection, you may also have a claim for compensation.
Source: CNN, “Family of teen who died from brain-eating amoeba sues water park,” Amanda Watts, accessed July 18, 2017