A swim in a California lake turned deadly for a 7-year-old boy after he came into contact with a rare brain-eating amoeba.
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Family members said David Pruitt, of Tehama County, died Aug. 7 from a devastating infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM.
David was rushed to the emergency room on July 30 and flown to UC Davis Medical Center, where he was placed on life-support with severe brain swelling. A week later he was dead.
A PAM infection is caused by naegleria fowleri, commonly referred to as the "brain-eating amoeba," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amoeba is commonly found in warm freshwater, like lakes and rivers, and soil. It usually infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. It then travels to the brain where it causes PAM, which is usually fatal.
Health officials said David was likely infected in a lake in Tehama County, but they did not specify which lake.
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Only 10 cases of PAM have been reported in California since 1971, according to the Tehama County Health Services Agency. The CDC said 148 cases have been reported nationwide from 1962 to 2019, and only four people survived.
Signs and symptoms of infection are clinically similar to bacterial meningitis. Early symptoms like severe headache, fever and nausea, eventually progress to seizures, hallucinations and coma. The CDC says PAM is difficult to detect because the disease progresses rapidly so that diagnosis is usually made after death.
A GoFundMe account to help David's family with medical bills and funeral expenses has raised more than $21,000.
"The family is extremely thankful, humbled, and feel so blessed to know people care so deeply for them and have and are still praying for them," David's aunt Crystal Hayley wrote on the site.
Hayley urged everyone to learn more about PAM and the ways to protect their families.
"Take time to learn the signs and symptoms," she said. "Share this information about the amoeba and the PAM illness with as many people as you can."
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