Two-year-old dies after contracting brain-eating amoeba at ‘hot springs’

Mourners gathered on Saturday for the funeral of a two-year-old boy who died from a rare, brain-eating amoeba infection believed to have been contracted at a local hot springs.

Woodrow Turner Bundy, who lived in Alamo, Nevada, with his parents and five sisters, died on Wednesday in Las Vegas after a battle with Naegleria fowleri - an amoeba which enters the body through the nose and thrives in warm environments. He became ill after swimming in Ash Springs, about 100 miles north of the Nevada capital.

The child, who turned two in May, “left a mark chiseled so deep no force could ever remove,” read his obituary. Nearly $20,000 had been raised by a GoFundMe.

“As much as it rips my heart out to see his picture everywhere, I’m humbled that so many have adopted him as their own,” his mother, Briana Bundy, wrote on Facebook. “He was a force to be reckoned with. Damn brain eating amoeba couldn’t silence his message. ‘Live fast, love hard, and laugh always.’”

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Naegleria fowleri causes a brain infection that is “usually fatal.”

From 1962 to 2021, 154 infections have been reported to CDC, an average of two to three per year. There have been only four survivors.

Most infections “occur after people swim or submerge their heads underwater,” when the amoeba “travels up the nose to the brain where it destroys the brain tissue and causes swelling of the brain, the CDC says.

“About five days or so after you’re exposed is when most people start to develop the symptoms,” Dr Brian Labus, epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health, told Fox59.

“It starts with a fever. Generally, not feeling well because you’re starting to get an infection in your brain.”

He continued: “We have medications that we can use against these types of diseases, but by the time we find it, it’s usually progressed pretty far.”

According to the CDC: “Most Naegleria fowleri infections occur in young boys, although the reasons for this aren’t clear. It’s possible that young boys are more likely to participate in such activities as diving into the water and playing in the sediment at the bottom of lakes and rivers.”

The centre concedes, however, that it is unknown why certain people become infected while millions of others exposed to warm recreational fresh waters do not, including those swimming with people who became infected.

“Attempts have been made to determine what concentration of Naegleria fowleri in the environment poses an unacceptable risk. However, no method currently exists that accurately and reproducibly measures the numbers of amebae in the water. This makes it unclear how a standard might be set to protect human health and how public health officials would measure and enforce such a standard.”

To avoid exposure, it warns: “People should always assume there is a risk for infection whenever entering warm fresh water. The only sure way to prevent an infection is to avoid water-related activities in warm fresh water, especially during summer months.

“If you choose to swim, you can reduce your risk of infection by trying to prevent water from going up your nose.”