Star scholar Megan Ebenroth, 17, tragically died final month after contracting a uncommon, brain-eating amoeba whereas swimming in Georgia.
The demise was reported final month, however the sufferer’s identification wasn’t confirmed till now, the New York Post stories.
“I’m still in shock,” the teenager’s mom Chrissy Ebenroth informed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution whereas discussing the “extraordinary” pupil’s passing.
“But I can’t keep silent about her.”
Megan and a number of other pals had reportedly gone swimming on July 11 in a lake close to her house in Dearing, McDuffie County.
The high-schooler had wished to get pleasure from the previous couple of weeks of summer season earlier than beginning her senior 12 months.
Four days later, Megan woke with a extreme headache, prompting her mom to drive her to the hospital.
Doctors recognized the youth with sinusitis, prescribed her an antibiotic and despatched her house.
Unfortunately, the teenager’s signs continued to worsen over the week as she started to expertise fever, migraines and a lack of stability, WLTX reported.
“It was all such a blur because her mental state changed so drastically,” mentioned Chrissy.
Left with little different recourse, the distraught guardian drove her daughter to the hospital, the place she was instantly intubated and positioned right into a medically-induced coma.
At one level, docs opened up the affected person’s cranium to alleviate the swelling on her mind.
“The stage we were at was not one Megan could come back from,” lamented her crestfallen mom, who nonetheless had no concept what was the reason for her daughter’s signs.
It was not till that Friday, July 21 that docs prompt that her issues have been attributable to an an infection of naegleria fowleri, the now-notorious brain-eating amoeba that swims up folks’s noses and colonises their brains.
Specifically, it infects victims with main amoebic meningoencephalitis, a catastrophic situation that causes the destruction of mind tissue and the swelling of the mind, in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although discovered worldwide, the microscopic monster predominantly resides in heat freshwater, similar to lakes and rivers and scorching springs, and may even inhabit poorly-maintained swimming swimming pools.
Naegleria fowleri can’t survive in salt water and can’t unfold from one individual to a different.
Unfortunately, the prognosis isn’t good for victims of this amoebic an infection, which is reportedly deadly 97 per cent of the time.
As was the case with Megan, signs — which might start between 1 and 12 days following an infection — initially entail extreme headache, fever, nausea and vomiting earlier than progressing to a stiff neck, seizures, and coma.
Death normally happens inside 5 days.
A day after getting recognized, Megan tragically handed away — 11 days after initially contracting the parasite.
Paul Johnson, the coroner for McDuffie County, later confirmed that the highschool senior had died from the uncommon mind an infection, marking Georgia’s sixth amoeba-related fatality since 1962.
State well being officers uncared for to reveal the situation of the lake for worry of insinuating that that’s the one physique of water the place the parasite could possibly be residing.
“It just doesn’t feel real,” Chrissy Ebenroth mentioned whereas discussing her daughter’s passing. “It seems like she’s going to walk into my house at any moment. It just doesn’t feel like this has happened to us.”
This marked a tragic finish for Megan, who’s remembered by family and friends as a highly-motivated scholar with massive desires and a vibrant character.
Ever since sixth grade, Megan dreamed of going to the University of Georgia and she or he labored onerous to realize her objective by making straight As and changing into president of the Beta Club and vice chairman of the Spanish Club.
She had just lately joined her highschool tennis group to assist spherical out her resume.
Megan’s mum Chrissy described herself and her daughter as “best friends.”
“She would tell people I was her best friend, and I would say ‘Honey, I can’t be your best friend’ and about three weeks ago, she said ‘come on, Mum, you know I’m your best friend, and I said, ‘Yes baby, you are.’”
The teen’s funeral was held on July 26 on the household’s church, Fort Creek Baptist Church, in Dearing, Georgia.
In gentle of the tragedy, Chrissy hopes to unfold consciousness of the illness, which is commonly not recognized till it’s too late.
“Going forward, I want that to be one of my main focuses,” the decided guardian declared, “to find a way to diagnose this earlier.”
Part of the issue is that just a few labs within the US supply the precise checks able to detecting the microbe.
Not to say that it’s usually mistaken for viral meningitis, a extra widespread illness that has related signs however is much extra curable.
Of the 157 identified amoeba infectees within the US from 1962-2022, solely 4 folks have survived.
Unfortunately, N. Fowleri instances might see a significant uptick sooner or later as a result of the microbe could possibly be spreading attributable to local weather change.
Scientists declare that warming temperatures are creating ideally suited circumstances for the amoeba to more and more thrive in our bodies of water throughout the northern US.
This article initially appeared within the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
Originally printed as ‘Her mental state changed so drastically’: Star scholar killed by brain-eating amoeba
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
