A Man Dies From An Amoeba

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A man living in Ventnor, New Jersey, died suddenly after contracting a brain-eating, amoeba that he contracted by sucking up water at a water park in Waco, Texas.

Fabrizio Stabile, 29, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, died at the Atlantic City Medical Center after a brief but deadly attack by the microorganism Naegleria fowleri.

According to the family of the deceased, Stabile was mowing the lawn of his house when he suddenly began to feel a severe headache. When his symptoms worsened and he had trouble speaking, he was rushed to the hospital. After performing a biopsy of the spine, doctors detected the fatal amoeba that had lodged in his brain, according to The New York Times.

Stabile was later found to have visited the BSR Cable Park and Surf Resort in Texas, confirmed Kelly Craine, spokeswoman for the Waco-McLennan County Ministry of Public Health.

According to the official, experts from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) visited the park on Monday to take samples of the water in the pools. The results have not yet been published and have not been reported to other patients who have visited the site.

Stabile's death is the first reported in the United States since 2016 and according to epidemiologist Jennifer Cope these cases are extremely rare, but generally fatal.

The Naegleria fowleri amoeba abounds in fresh waters from warm to hot temperatures and is found in rivers, ponds and lakes and sometimes in pipes to make water drinkable. It is a single-cell microorganism that produces primary amebic meningoencephalitis, also known as PAM. This disease occurs when the bacteria is aspirated through the nose and when entering the body it goes directly to the brain where it feeds on soft tissue, destroying it. "It turns out that she uses the brain as her food," Dr. Cope told the Times. "Its title is terrifying, but not completely inaccurate." The disease has a 98% mortality rate.

"Fab," as his friends called the deceased, "will be remembered as someone with a contagious smile that lifted anyone's spirits," he told himself through an obituary published by the family. It was also expressed that a foundation has been established in his name to raise awareness of the danger of this terrible bacterium.