Arkansas child, Kali Hardig, in critical condition battling Naegleria fowleri
In a follow-up to a recent report, the 12-year-old girl who contacted the greater than 99 percent lethal “brain-eating amoeba”is currently in critical condition at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, according to a CNN report July 29.
Last week, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the presence of the cause of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), the free-living amoeba, Naegleria fowleri.
It is believed that Kali Hardig contracted the very dangerous parasite at the the Willow Springs Water Park. There was a Naegleria case linked to the water park in 2010 also.
At the request of ADH officials, the water park closed last week.
LISTEN: Interview with CDC Medical Epidemiologist, Dr. Jennifer Cope
People typically contract this parasite when contaminated water rushes up the nose when jumping into the water. Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes PAM. There are also reports ofcontracting it via neti pot use.
CNN reports that physicians immediately started treating Hardig with an anti-fungal medicine, antibiotics and a new experimental anti-amoeba drug doctors got directly from the CDC. They have also reduced the girl’s temperature to 93 degrees. Doctors have used that technique in some brain injury cases as a way to preserve undamaged brain tissue.
[…] Arkansas child, Kali Hardig, in critical condition battling Naegleria fowleri […]
[…] was infected with the parasite in late July, believed contracted at a Arkansas water park. She was “critical condition” and treated with a variety of drugs including the investigational drug, […]