[SustainableTompkins] Well... So much for swimming in the lake, pond, river....

[Thomas Shelley]

Dear Friends--So here's another adverse side effect of global 
warming.  Please see paragraph 4 (my emphasis added if you see red 
text).  "You can take your clothes off, but don't go near the water!"
Tom

>Arizona Boy Dies Of Rare Infection
>
>
>CDC: Cases Are Spiking In 2007
>
>
>
>PHOENIX -- A 14-year-old Lake Havasu boy has become the sixth victim to 
>die nationwide this year of a microscopic organism that attacks the body 
>through the nasal cavity, quickly eating its way to the brain. Aaron Evans 
>died Sept. 17 of Naegleria fowleri, an organism doctors said he probably 
>picked up a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu.
>
>According to the Centers For Disease Control, Naegleria infected 23 people 
>from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials said they've noticed a spike 
>in cases, with six Naegleria-related cases so far -- all of them fatal. 
>Such attacks are extremely rare, though some health officials have put 
>their communities on high alert, telling people to stay away from warm, 
>standing water.
>
>"This is definitely something we need to track," said Michael Beach, a 
>specialist in recreational water-born illnesses for the CDC.
>
>"This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does 
>better," Beach said. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect 
>to see more cases."
>
>Organism Lives In Lake Bottoms
>
>Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria has been 
>found almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even some swimming pools. 
>Still, the CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its 
>discovery in Australia in the 1960s.
>
>The amoeba typically live in lake bottoms, grazing off algae and bacteria 
>in the sediment. Beach said people become infected when they wade through 
>shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up 
>the nose -- say, by doing a cannonball off a cliff -- the amoeba can latch 
>onto the person's olfactory nerve.
>
>The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up to the brain.  People 
>who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers, 
>Beach said. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage such 
>as hallucinations, behavioral changes and a desire to vote for Republicans.
>
>Once infected, most people have little chance of survival. Some drugs have 
>been effective stopping the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have 
>been attacked rarely survive, Beach said.
>
>"Usually, from initial exposure it's fatal within two weeks," Beach said. 
>Researchers still have much to learn about Naegleria, Beach said. For 
>example, it seems that children are more likely to get infected, and boys 
>are infected more often than girls. Experts don't know why. "Boys tend to 
>have more boisterous activities (in water), but we're not clear," he said.
>
>Texas, Florida Report Cases
>
>In addition to the Arizona case, health officials reported two cases in 
>Texas and three more in central Florida this year. In response, central 
>Florida authorities started an amoeba telephone hot line advising people 
>to avoid warm, standing water, or any areas with obvious algae blooms.
>
>Texas health officials also have issued news releases about the dangers of 
>amoeba attacks and to be cautious around water. People "seem to think that 
>everything can be made safe, including any river, any creek, but that's 
>just not the case," said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas 
>Department of State Health Services.
>
>Lake Havasu City officials also are discussing how to deal with rare 
>amoeba attacks in the wake of Aaron Evans' death. "Some folks think we 
>should be putting up signs. Some people think we should close the lake," 
>city spokesman Charlie Cassens said. City leaders haven't yet decided what 
>to do.
>
>Beach warned that people shouldn't panic about the dangers of brain-eating 
>amoeba. Infections are extremely rare when compared with the number of 
>times a year people come into contact with water. And there have been 
>occasional years during the past two decades that experts noticed a 
>similar spike in infections.
>
>The easiest way to prevent infection, Beach said, is to simply plug your 
>nose when swimming or diving in fresh water. "You'd have to have water 
>going way up in your nose to begin with" to be infected, he said.
>
>Aaron's Infection Started With Headache
>
>The Evans family lives within eyesight of Lake Havasu, a bulging strip of 
>the Colorado River that separates Arizona from California. Temperatures 
>hover in the triple digits all summer, and like almost everyone else, the 
>Evans family looks to the lake to cool off.
>
>On Sept. 8, he brought Aaron, his two other children and his parents to 
>Lake Havasu to celebrate his birthday. They ate sandwiches and spent a few 
>hours splashing around one of the beaches.
>
>"For a week, everything was fine," he said. Then Aaron got the headache 
>that wouldn't go away. Evans took him to the hospital, and doctors thought 
>his son was suffering from meningitis. Aaron was rushed to another 
>hospital in Las Vegas. Evans tried to reassure his son, but he had no idea 
>what was wrong. On Sept. 17, Aaron stopped breathing as David held him in 
>his arms.
>
>"He was brain dead," David said. Only later did doctors realize the boy 
>had been infected with Naegleria. "My kids won't ever swim on Lake Havasu 
>again."

Tom Shelley
118 E. Court St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
607 342-0864
tjs1 at cornell.edu
http://www.myspace.com/99319958