KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An adult Missouri resident has been hospitalized after contracting an extremely rare “brain-eating” infection.
The Missouri Department of Health and Human Services believes the patient may have been water skiing at the Lake of the Ozarks prior to becoming ill with Naegleria fowleri.
The infection is a microscopic, single-celled, free-living ameba that can cause a rare, deadly brain infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis.
Health officials say the patient is receiving treatment in an intensive care unit at a Missouri hospital and that no other cases are being investigated in the state.
Fewer than 10 people are infected with the virus each year in the United States. Between 1962 and 2024, there were 167 cases of the infection in the U.S.
The Associated Press reports a 12-year-old South Carolina boy died last month after becoming infected at a popular lake.
The infection enters the body through the nose, after which it travels up the nose into the brain. The infection can’t be spread from one person to another, and can’t be contracted by swallowing contaminated water.
More information about the infection is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
—
