Visitors to Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada are being warned against submerging themselves in the hot springs below the Hoover Dam due to the risk of infection by deadly brain-eating amoebas.
Known as Naegleria fowleri, the amoeba can enter through the nose and travel to the brain, where it infects and destroys brain tissue.
The deadly infection can cause “sudden and severe headache, fever and vomiting,” a spokesperson for Lake Mead told Fox News.
While infections are uncommon, they have a fatality rate of more than 97% — between 1962 and 2022, there were 157 cases of infection by the amoeba in the U.S., with only four survivors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A death in 2022 in Nevada had a possible link to Lake Mead. A boy had gone swimming in the Kingman Wash part of the recreation area on Sept. 30, 2022, and died in October 2022.
It was the first fatality from Naegleria fowleri linked to possible exposure at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, officials said.
“The National Park Service … has made the decision to continue to allow recreational swimming at Lake Mead National Recreation as the organism exists naturally and commonly in the environment but disease is extremely rare. However, recreational water users should always assume there is a risk anytime they enter warm fresh water,” U.S. Public Health Service Officer Dr. Maria Said explained in a statement at the time.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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