The average person shouldn't worry about so-called "brain-eating amoebas" like the one recently diagnosed in the state, an MU infectious disease specialist said Thursday.
Christian Rojas Moreno, a MU Health infectious disease physician, said that infections caused by Naegleria fowleri are very rare.
"There have been just a handful of cases in many years, and there are billions of exposures every year, so there is a risk, but a low risk," Moreno said in a zoom presentation.
The simplest way to avoid risk is keeping water out of the nose, Moreno said.
The amoeba, which thrives in warm freshwater environments, causes infection by entering the nose and traveling up to the brain. Once the amoeba enters the brain it begins consuming brain tissue. If contracted, the infections are almost always fatal, he said.
Moreno added that the amoeba can also be avoided by limiting contact with potentially infected bodies of water. The amoeba lives in soil, lakes, rivers, ponds and hot springs, and according to the Centers for Disease Control, the amoeba has been found in recreational water like splash pads, and a surf park that didn't have enough chlorine.
"If exposure is unavoidable, we need to try to keep the nose shut or use nose clips to prevent the amoeba from entering the nose," he said. "Also keep good maintenance of pools and water systems with good chlorination."
"This amoeba is present pretty much everywhere, especially, in warm, fresh water. So it is there, especially during summertime and high temperatures," Moreno said.
Naegleria fowleri is a free-living amoeba that can cause a severe brain infection called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM.
Symptoms of infection are very similar to meningitis, including headache, fever and stiff neck. Symptoms can include a change in mental state, such as confusion. The symptoms usually start between one and twelve days after exposure, he said.
Moreno said that there are not general guidelines for handling the disease, but based on expert recommendations patients are administered a combination of antimicrobials.
The recent infection of a Missouri resident is being treated in a special care unit but details of where they are being treated is unavailable to respect patient privacy. The patient had recently gone water skiing at the Lake of the Ozarks, however it has not been confirmed that is where the infection occurred, according to a news release from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
"A very, very, I mean, very low number of cases in Missouri have been reported so far," said Moreno.
A Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Facebook post said this is the third known case of PAM in Missouri since they began keeping records in 1962. The previous two cases were in 1987 and 2022.
There were 167 reported cases in the United States between 1962 and 2024, according to the CDC website.