Iowa Beach Closed After Swimmer Infected With Brain-Eating Amoeba

A lake in southwest Iowa has been closed after a Missouri resident who recently swam there was infected with a brain-eating amoeba.

The Iowa Department of Public Health shut down the beach at Lake of Three Fires State Park in Taylor County after the person was diagnosed with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain infection that is usually fatal and caused by Naegleria fowleri.

“Testing to confirm the presence of Naegleria fowleri in Lake of Three Fires is being conducted in conjunction with the CDC and could take several days to complete,” health officials wrote in a press release. “The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services is working closely with the Department of Natural Resources to share information about this rare infection and will provide additional updates as test results become available.”

The state’s Dept. of Public Health said the parasite is commonly found in warm freshwater such as lakes, rivers, and ponds.“Since 1962, only 154 known cases have been identified in the United States,” officials shared. “No additional suspected cases of PAM are currently being investigated in Missouri or Iowa.”

The patient is currently in the intensive care unit at a Missouri hospital. The news arrives just two years after a 13-year-old boy died from a brain-eating amoeba after his family vacationed in Florida.