Deadly, brain-eating amoeba may have come from Nevada hot spring

A person died from a brain-eating amoeba in Lincoln County, health officials said Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the amoeba Naegleria fowleri caused the person’s illness and death, according to a report from the Nevada Division of Public Health.

The division of public health said in the report that the victim may have been exposed to the amoeba at Ash Springs, a hot spring in Lincoln County.

The amoeba lives in soil and warm fresh water in rivers, lakes and hot springs, but is more likely to live in sediment at the bottom of bodies of freshwater.

It infects people by getting into the body through the nose. Infection symptoms start with severe headaches, fever, nausea and vomiting, then progress to neck stiffness, seizures and coma that can end in death.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding jumping in bodies of warm freshwater, holding your nose shut, using nose clips or keeping your head above water when in warm freshwater and avoiding stirring up sediment in shallow freshwater.

Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com.