Doctors suspect three factors, each unremarkable on its own, contributed to his fate.
See full article...
See full article...
Amoebas eat man alive over months in puzzling, ultra-rare cautionary tale
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
And that's what probably killed him. His own immune system was shut down by the drugs, and the bug had a less hostile environment in which to thrive.
The images are about a 5/10 on the ick scale, too. If you're squeamish, don't look.
Upvote
65
(66
/
-1)
On behalf of a good portion of the readers, thank you for putting the image behind a link and posting this well after lunch.
Upvote
67
(67
/
0)
Unlike the flesh‑eating V. vulnificus bacteria Dr. Beth previous article's photos rated at around 2.3 Beths , this one's photos rate around 7 Beths for me, so be really warned before clicking the image link. And just for reference, I've seen lots of quite gruesome injuries myself over the years…
ETA: More like 5 Beths on the gruesome scale at first, but imagining the fate of the poor patient long‑term puts it up to 7 for me.
Upvote
72
(72
/
0)
It's always the nasal rinses... amoebas are a terrifying way to leave this world.
Upvote
23
(23
/
0)
Guess it's time to have a convo with the wife - she regularly does nasal rinses with tap water....
Upvote
76
(76
/
0)
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
Everytime I think I am having a shitty day, or I just have bad luck - I'm going to remind myself of this article.
Poor dude, what a way to go ;(
Poor dude, what a way to go ;(
Upvote
16
(17
/
-1)
Upvote
13
(13
/
0)
Another day, another flesh eating bacteria story. Gonna be scared to shower by the end of the May.
Upvote
5
(9
/
-4)
I broke myself of that habit when amoebas in the city water got a woman in Seattle. It's perfectly safe to drink, but they make no guarantees when it comes to putting it up your nose. Saline spray bottles from the drug store are cheap and convenient.
Upvote
47
(47
/
0)
Upvote
17
(17
/
0)
I'll write a comment to let ars know I like Beth Mole articles, but I think I'll skip reading this one today
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
"Man dies covered in necrotic lesions after amoebas eat him alive"
Nice headline - I thought I had stumbled into the Enquirer.
Nice headline - I thought I had stumbled into the Enquirer.
Upvote
7
(7
/
0)
Before my time, we had a close family acquaintance die from amoebic encephalitis many decades ago, before any treatments (or even just proper diagnostic practices) were available there back then. Possibly a Naegleria fowleri case, although we won't ever know.
It wasn't pretty. At the very least they were in a coma for the last few weeks of their life support. From what I heard, they went from a relatively cognitive state to an outright coma during the course of just a few days…
Watch your amoebas, people, and don't ever bath in the same pool as RFK jr. does!
IIRC there was a particularly bad Naegleria fowleri local outbreak in the 1970s (?) in one European country with around 20 kids catching it in a swimming pool during their sport training. Turned out much later that even though the water was chlorinated, there were some still pockets of water inside bad tile cladding where the chlorine didn't reach. 16 kids died.
For some good news, several novel organo‑boron (!!!) compound anti‑protozoals seem to show pretty good efficacy against many parasitic amoebas including sleeping sickness and N. Fowleri, at least in mice trials so far (survival rate from 1% to 28% in mice is pretty big IMO). And another drug just I can't remember the name of IIRC passed phase 1 or 2 for human trials against sleeping sickness, which would be a great fucking thing, as that disease is quite endemic in Africa.
It wasn't pretty. At the very least they were in a coma for the last few weeks of their life support. From what I heard, they went from a relatively cognitive state to an outright coma during the course of just a few days…
Watch your amoebas, people, and don't ever bath in the same pool as RFK jr. does!
IIRC there was a particularly bad Naegleria fowleri local outbreak in the 1970s (?) in one European country with around 20 kids catching it in a swimming pool during their sport training. Turned out much later that even though the water was chlorinated, there were some still pockets of water inside bad tile cladding where the chlorine didn't reach. 16 kids died.
For some good news, several novel organo‑boron (!!!) compound anti‑protozoals seem to show pretty good efficacy against many parasitic amoebas including sleeping sickness and N. Fowleri, at least in mice trials so far (survival rate from 1% to 28% in mice is pretty big IMO). And another drug just I can't remember the name of IIRC passed phase 1 or 2 for human trials against sleeping sickness, which would be a great fucking thing, as that disease is quite endemic in Africa.
Upvote
35
(35
/
0)
theradicalmoderate
Ars Tribunus Militum
Can you provide a conversion factor from Beths to the 10-point Rat Lungworm Scale?¹
__________
¹i.e., rat lungworm itself = 10RLS.
Upvote
5
(6
/
-1)
Just suggest she do the rinses with boiling water. She'll be fine!
Upvote
15
(15
/
0)
I remember hearing a about a case of amoeba infection picked up from using a neti pot with tap water some years ago.
Upvote
16
(16
/
0)
Well, if she ever does an article about the narcotic "krokodil," my guess is that'd be pretty close. Nothing like pictures of people who are addicted to a drug that literally eats their face, yet continue injecting it. It's like leprosy, but self inflicted.
Upvote
17
(17
/
0)
SubWoofer2
Ars Tribunus Militum
Some people rate the content of Dr Mole's (wide-eyed and excellent) articles.
Some people rate the linked photos.
I rate the headlines.
Wrote itself. A doozy.
Some people rate the linked photos.
I rate the headlines.
Wrote itself. A doozy.
Upvote
10
(10
/
0)
Or just let it run a bit off the tap and then boil it, that will kill all the bugs including Legionella possibly lurking in your pipes or boiler heater. As for saline, it's pretty easy to add salts for proper osmolality. At least here where I live the tap water is generally really safe (and often better quality than bottled), it's just when people store it for a long time in a boiler at lower than 55°C or so where Legionella develops.
Upvote
12
(12
/
0)
Probably the one in Seattle I referenced above because that's exctly what the patient in that case did.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I think Seattle's water is perfectly safe. For its intended purposes. When people go off-label, they assume risks. In other words, don't go putting your tap water up your nose either.
Upvote
13
(13
/
0)
Every time I read about a horrible microorganism ravaging someone’s body I just think, why can’t it happen to RFK Jr for once?
Upvote
24
(28
/
-4)
Who says it hadn't? The current admin certainly looks like being headed by a brain parasite. Wasn't there a Pohl novel with brain slugs living on peoples' heads or something like that? Orange ones I guess…
Or his diet of raccoon penises really works for him ;-)
/s
Upvote
15
(18
/
-3)
Upvote
10
(10
/
0)
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I'm curious as to why the exposure to the red tides and hurricane waters was discounted as a cause/source.
That seems a very obvious potential source, or perhaps a co-infection factor that allowed the amoebas to thrive on his legs.
Upvote
9
(9
/
0)
Immunodominance
Smack-Fu Master, in training
Very nice write-up Beth Mole!
Folks are quite correct to link Th2 responses to amoeba infections, although most of the literature is (understandably) in relation to intestinal parasites.
Folks are quite correct to link Th2 responses to amoeba infections, although most of the literature is (understandably) in relation to intestinal parasites.
Upvote
3
(3
/
0)
Nononono, it's boiled water. That is, water that's been brought to boiling, then cooled back to lukewarm or cooler! (from the tale of an optometrist passed around the internet)
Upvote
22
(22
/
0)
Eating breakfast...
Oh look Dr Mole has a new article...
*Reads first paragraph... Nope, I'm out.
Oh look Dr Mole has a new article...
*Reads first paragraph... Nope, I'm out.
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
And all made in the developing world by companies with probably poor sterility standards. Boil your own water use immediately as soon as it cools that’s a better option
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
I have a Navage at the behest of my mother. After the stories Dr Mole has posted, I am diligent in using distilled water and always using saline with it. I'm not too terrified of death in general, but slowly dying to amoebas is not how I want to go out.
Upvote
4
(4
/
0)
I never met the guy they hired to replace me when I left one job, but within a year or so he was killed by flesh-eating bacteria. It doesn't make any logical sense whatsoever but on some gut level it feels like I dodged a bullet.
Upvote
13
(13
/
0)
No joke, this is one of the reasons I wear single-use disposables.
Upvote
10
(10
/
0)
robert.walter
Ars Praefectus
“The man didn’t fit into any of these categories.”
These existing categories.
Shitty way to be able to claim that one added a category to an ailment.
These existing categories.
Shitty way to be able to claim that one added a category to an ailment.
Upvote
2
(3
/
-1)