This morning while drinking my morning cup of coffee I turned on the tube just in time to hear Good Morning America state...
What every parent should know before letting their children swim in fresh water ponds and lakes after the break...(or some phrase very similar).
So I was intrigued and waited until after the commercials (one about an asthma treatment for Sunil, that while helping his asthma may cause him to bleed from several orifices and have feelings of homicidal mania far beyond his normal level).
Anyhoo, so the the segment begins and they discuss the truly tragic case of a second child that has died this month due to being infected by a dangerous freshwater amoeba. And while these are very sad and tragic cases and I can't imagine the grief the parents must be feeling, I was struck by the irresponsibility of the story as well.
They story made it seem like every parent should be very concerned about letting a child swim in a pond. They had an expert that indicated that two or three cases like this happen per year and that the percentage was low (three cases per year versus unknown millions that swim in fresh water ponds, lakes and rivers each year).
GMA of course offered no solution to the problem but told parents that they should be aware of the issue.
Fox new's had this to say....
Amoeba Parasite Kills Second U.S. Child This Month
A nine-year-old Virginia boy has become the second child in the U.S. to die this month after being infected by a dangerous freshwater amoeba, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Tuesday.
The boy, identified by family members as Christian Strickland, died Aug. 5. An autopsy found the death had been caused by primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which occurs after the amoeba enters the brain.
The Richmond boy's death comes roughly a week after Florida girl Courtney Nash, 16, was killed by the same parasite, which is commonly found in lakes and rivers.
Christian's mother, Amber Strickland, said he had been dunked in an unidentified body of water during a fishing camp he attended the week before he died. She told the Times-Dispatch she believes that is when he took in the contaminated water.
"He went from playing video games to being brain dead," she said.
The disease, which cannot be transmitted person-to-person, spreads rapidly and usually results in death within days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials say that while the amoeba is rare—with just 32 infections in the U.S. from 2001 to 2010—it does increase in summer months when the water temperature rises.
Christian's death marked the first amoeba death in Virginia since 1969.
According to the Mayo Clinic Website, Naegleria infection begins within one to two weeks of exposure to the amoeba, and symptoms can include a change in the sense of smell or taste, fever, sudden headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion and loss of balance. The symptoms can progress rapidly and typically lead to death within three to seven days.
Anyone who experiences these symptoms after swimming should seek medical attention immediately.
What I find most irritating about the story is that to say the infection is rare is an understatement. 32 infections from 2001 to 2010? Compared to how many people swam in fresh water ponds, lakes and rivers during the same period (10s of millions? 100s of millions? who knows?). I have the utmost sympathy for the parents of the children that have been affected, these are truly tragic cases. But to plant that fear in parents about swimming in fresh water is IHMO irresponsible.
I guess I need to stop watching GMA and stop taking Sunil's asthma medicine (and probably stop drinking the proverbial Kool-Aide).
