Brain-Eating Amoeba Claims Life Of Another Teen

After swimming in a stream in Maryland last month, a teen contracted the so-called “brain-eating” amoeba Naegleria fowleri and died.

The victim was 19-year-old Kerry Stoutenburgh, the New York Health Department confirmed, per PennLive.

“Kerry was first hospitalized Aug. 27 due to vomiting and persistent headaches. She was treated and sent home but her condition worsened and she was returned to the hospital,” the Daily Freeman News reported, citing Donald Stoutenburgh, the late teen’s father.

After various deaths from the brain-eating amoeba in recent years, officials are puzzling over what policy changes might address the problem. The Health Department in Cecil County, MD, where Stoutenburgh contracted the amoeba, weighed in on policy.

“Spokesman Gregg Bortz said the Centers for Disease Control do not recommend testing untreated freshwater for Naegleria fowleri because the amoeba is naturally occurring. Also because there is no established relationship between detection or concentration of Naegleria fowleri and risk of infection. Bortz said there are no rapid, standardized testing methods to detect and quantitate the amoeba in water,” the report said.

Bortz said: "It's a low risk, but it is a present risk. Our primary message has been for people to exercise precautions in any fresh water."

On whole, the threat posed by the amoeba is low, although once contracted, it has a 97 percent fatality rate, the New York Daily News reported.

“Only 138 people are known to have been infected with the amoeba since 1962, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those that have been infected, only a handful have survived,” the report said.

Background on Kerry Stoutenburgh, per the Daily Freeman News:

Stoutenburgh, who would have celebrated her 20th birthday on Oct. 25, graduated from Kingston High School in 2014. She was a member of the school’s band, choir, swim team, National Honor Society and French Honor Society. In September 2014, she began attending CUNY Brooklyn College, where she was majoring in film and photography.

Another teen died earlier this summer from contracting the amoeba at a recreation center in North Carolina.

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