Overview

• A 71-year-old Texas woman is believed to have contracted primary amebic meningoencephalitis by using untreated tap water from an RV system to rinse her sinuses at a campground.
• She developed fever, headache and altered mental status within four days of exposure and died eight days after symptoms began despite intensive medical intervention.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Naegleria fowleri in her brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid.
• Naegleria fowleri infections are extremely rare in the US—about three cases per year—but carry a fatality rate of roughly 97 percent.
• Texas health officials emphasized that tap water remains safe to drink yet urged that nasal irrigation devices be filled only with sterile, distilled or boiled water.