A toddler from Arkansas died of an infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba lurking in a water park.
The young boy was 16 months old when he visited a water playground with fountains and jets in Pulaski County, Arkansas.
He had a fever for days, was vomiting, would not eat, would barely move, and his behavior suggested he was in a confused, altered state of mind. Doctors rushed him to the pediatric intensive care unit.
The young boy underwent a lumbar puncture where a thin needle was inserted into his lower back to collect cerebrospinal fluid, and doctors determined the Naegleria fowleri bacteria had caused meningitis – inflammation of the protective layers that surround the brain and spinal cord.
Naegleria fowleri is commonly called a brain-eating amoeba because it causes a brain infection that is typically fatal. Official records show 164 people in the US were infected with the disease between 1962 and 2023, of which only four survived.
The toddler had played in the water on August 26, 2023, and died on September 4. His case was reported by the Arkansas Department of Health at the time, though the CDC only just released a new case report on the incident on Thursday.
The agency warned that Water playgrounds, also known as splash pads, have been the source of several similar cases of infection caused by the deadly bacteria. While it cannot survive in chlorinated water, it can thrive in poorly-maintained pools with low chlorine, as well as in freshwater.
This pool, in particular, had several code violations, including improper pH levels in the splash pad’s water, and the device used to add chlorine to the water hadn’t worked in about a month, which could have prevented contamination.
Michael Alexander Pollock III died on September 4, 2023 after being exposed to the brain-eating amoeba
The CDC has issued warnings in the past about the risks of playing in splash pads.
According to the agency, they are designed so that water is constantly circulating and never still to prevent drowning.
Because of this, they don’t qualify according to city or town standards as ‘aquatic venues’, which include pools.
This means splash pads are not always regulated, nor are staff always required to disinfect the water with germ-killing chemicals.
The CDC said in the latest case report: ‘The splash pad–associated [primary amebic meningoencephalitis] case described here represents the third such case in 4 years, indicating that splash pads with inadequately disinfected water are an emerging exposure of concern for transmission of N. fowleri.’
In 2021, a boy in Texas died after being infected with the bacteria while playing at the Don Misenhimer Park splash pad in Arlington.
Contaminated water in swimming pools, caused by insufficient chlorine levels, has also been behind fatal infections.
Last summer, a 30-year-old woman became infected from a wave pool in Taiwan. The woman was taken to the hospital after suffering from seizures, headaches, fever, and stiffness in the neck and shoulders.
She died three days later.
The Arkansas Health Department said there is no ongoing threat to the public and the pool area remains closed to this day
Only a few people have survived Naegleria fowleri. Kali Hardig (right), now 22, was 12 when she contracted it from an Arkansas water park. Sixteen-year-old Caleb Ziegelbauer was infected in July 2022 when he was 14 while swimming near Port Charlotte Beach, Florida
And in 2019, 29-year-old New Jersey native Fabrizio Stabile died of a brain-eating amoeba infection less than two weeks after he visited BSR Cable Park and Surf Resort in Waco, Texas.
In the case of the child in Pulaski County, Arkansas, identified as Michael Alexander Pollock III, health department specialists found the pH of the water was too high, exceeding 8.2 – the highest the test could go.
Typically, the pH level should be between 7.2 and 7.8. When pH gets too high, chlorine becomes less effective at cleaning the water.
Chlorine levels were above five parts per million, while the ideal range is between one and three parts per million. But because the chlorinator was broken, the chemical was being added by hand, leading to uneven distribution and ‘dead zones’ where the bacteria survived.
They also collected samples from drains, nozzles, biofilm in water tanks, and the water in the pool and splash pad tank.
About 10 days after the child died, they detected N. fowleri in a sample from the splash pad tank.
The bacteria lives in warm freshwater and can infect people when contaminated water enters the nose.
From there, it travels along the olfactory nerve to the brain, where it destroys tissue and causes swelling, often resulting in death.
Symptoms, including fever, nausea, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations. They generally begin one to two days after coming into contact with the amoeba.
Very few people have been infected and lived. One of them is now 22-year-old Kali Hardig, who was just 12 when she contracted N. Fowleri from an Arkansas water park.
Doctors gave her four days to live, calling the infection ‘a death sentence.’
However, she made a full recovery, with only the occasional blurry vision in her left eye due to scar tissue left behind from the infection.
Sixteen-year-old Caleb Ziegelbauer from Florida was infected with the same deadly pathogen in July 2022 while swimming in the water off Port Charlotte Beach.
He survived the infection and his walking is improving, but the damage done to his brain means he needs to use a wheelchair.
Like Ms Hardig, he had to relearn how to stand up, walk, and talk after the infection.
