Parasitic Amoeba in Minnesota Lake Kills 9-Year-Old Boy

The Daily News reports that a 9-year-old boy has died from a rare brain infection two days after swimming in Minnesota’s Lily Lake. The same rare brain infection also killed a 7-year-old girl in the summer of 2010 after she swam in Lily Lake as well. Health officials believe the deaths were caused by a parasitic amoeba called Naegleria fowleri in the lake’s water.

The 36-acre lake has since been closed to the public and is not expected to reopen until next season. The lake is also blocked off with “Danger” and “Stay out of the Water” signs.

According to experts, Naegleria fowleri is extremely rare and thrives in warm water. The president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases explained that this year the Midwest has experienced a heatwave and a drought, making the lake shallower and warmer than usual.

A doctor at the Minnesota Department of Health explained that the water containing the amoeba gets forced up the nose, crawls up the olfactory nerve, and moves into the brain. It then destroys brain tissue and results in the rare brain infection.

“Although an infection from Naegleria fowleri is very rare, it has an estimated fatality rate of 98%,” states Diane Miskowski, MPH, Business Development Manager at EMSL Analytical, Inc., a leading environmental testing laboratory. “EMSL Analytical provides testing for Naegleria fowleri from environmental samples using powerful DNA amplification methodologies.”

For more information on EMSL’s testing services, please contact EMSL at (800) 220-3675, visit www.EMSL.com, or email  info@EMSL.com .

[b]About EMSL Analytical, Inc. [/b]
EMSL Analytical, Inc. is a full service testing company providing quality lab services under the same private ownership since 1981. Including the corporate lab facility in Cinnaminson, NJ, EMSL Analytical operates over thirty laboratories nationwide in the US and Canada. We provide analytical services for environmental, indoor air quality (IAQ), industrial hygiene, forensics and materials science, consumer products, food safety, PCR, pharmaceutical, asbestos, lead, and radiological samples. The company has an extensive list of accreditations from leading organizations, as well as state and federal regulating bodies. Please see our website for a complete listing of accreditations.

Contact Information

Joseph Frasca

Senior Vice President of Marketing

EMSL Analytical

(1) 1-800-220-3675

jfrasca@emsl.com