http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/17/health/florida-brain-eating-amoeba/ (CNN)An unidentified patient in Florida is being treated after being infected with a brain-eating amoeba last week, according to the Florida Department of Health. It is the fourth known case this year of infection by the parasite Naegleria fowleri. "We believe that the individual contracted the infection after swimming in unsanitary water on a single private property," said Mara Gambineri, the health department's communications director, noting that there is no risk to the general public. The parasite is almost always deadly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 1962 and 2015 there were 138 know
Source: http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/189032124-story ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Yet another Floridian is batting a brain-eating amoeba, but an Orlando-based company may have found the cure. Orlando's Profounda, Inc. delivered their new drug, Impavido, to the patient. Company CEO Todd MacLaughlan, hopes to turn the tables on this bug. "Of the patients who've survived, the four we've talked about, two of them were on Impavido. So there is evidence supporting use of Impavido in these cases," MacLaughlan said. About half the ponds and streams have this bacteria swimming around. If they happen to get inside your nasal passage they could kill you within days. "The prognosis is n
A South Carolina resident has contracted an infection from the brain-eating amoeba, naegleria fowleri, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The state epidemiologist Linda Bell said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed through lab tests the individual was exposed to the infectious amoeba. The exposure is thought to have occurred on July 24, when the individual was swimming near Martin’s Landing on the Edisto River in Charleston County, DHEC said. The infection the amoeba causes, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, has about a 97 percent fatality rating. In early June, miltefosine – a drug that, when used with other medications, h
A new report details how physicians and patients used social media to help diagnose cutaneous leishmaniasis in a group of teens who traveled on a youth adventure trip to Israel. Their posts quickly brought the cluster to the attention of the teens and their parents, leading to prompt recognition of the cause of their skin lesions and appropriate treatment. People with cutaneous leishmaniasis develop skin sores after being infecting with Leishmania parasites, which are spread by the bite of sand flies.. "Our findings highlight the growing role of social media in medicine for facilitating communication and crowd sourcing a diagnosis for patients," said Dr. Kanokporn Mongkolrattanothai, lead au
