Only in Florida!

As if it weren’t bad enough that we have a global pandemic on our hands, one poor Floridian has contracted a brain-eating amoeba!

Related: Florida Teacher BRAGGED About Sexually Abusing Minor

On Friday, the Florida Department of Health confirmed that one person in Hillsborough County (AKA the west central portion of the state) has contracted Naegleria fowleri. With a name straight out of Harry Potter, this is actually a single-celled living organism which can cause a rare, but almost always fatal, brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

Not that it’s of much consolation, but there have only been 37 reported cases of the infection in the state since 1962, officials say. The agency did not provide additional details about the patient’s condition or where the case was contracted.

So how can Floridians stay safe? The amoeba thrives in the summer, particularly in the months of July, August, and September, and can typically be found naturally occurring in warm freshwater ponds, canals, rivers, and lakes throughout the US, but is most commonly found in southern states.

For those with a pool, be sure to keep up with your maintenance! It can also reside in minimally chlorinated or poorly maintained swimming pools.

Symptoms can include fever, nausea, vomiting, and severe headaches in the first stage, and altered mental status, hallucinations, stiff neck, seizures, and a coma in the second stage. It is typically hard to detect the infection because of the rapid progression, so diagnosis is typically made postmortem.

Read more from the DOH (below):

[Image via WENN/Avalon.]

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