[StBernard] DHH Confirms Death of a Child Associated with Rare Amoeba Found in St. Bernard Parish Home

[Westley Annis]

Times-Picayune story on Thursday on "4-year-old child visiting St. Bernard
Parish dies from rare encephalitis infection."

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The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday confirmed
that a 4-year-old child visiting a St. Bernard Parish home died from primary
amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection that leads to the destruction
of brain tissue.

It is a rare infection that previously had been associated with two deaths
traced to water in Louisiana in 2011, according to the state Department of
Health and Hospitals.

The 4-year-old allegedly contracted the illness in late July while in the
Violet area and then died in August, according to parish President Dave
Peralta. The DHH just recently received the water tests results back from
the CDC.

"The kids were playing on a Slip 'n Slide over a period of 10 to 12 hours,"
Peralta said. "And from what the CDC has told us, it grows in fresh, hot or
warm water and is introduced in the nasal passages and then affects the
brain.

ŠIn 2011, a 20-year-old St. Bernard Parish man died after using tap water in
a device called a neti pot. It's a small teapot-shaped container used to
rinse out the nose and sinuses with salt water to relieve allergies, colds
and sinus trouble.


Click here for full story: http://bit.ly/15B4r4K