Protists are serious business:
An extremely rare brain-eating amoeba has killed a nine-year-old girl from Johnson County.
Hally Yust, 9, from Spring Hill was an avid skier and died two days ago on Wednesday.
The amoeba is found in fresh water. A county disease investigator tells FOX 4 that Yust had several potential exposures in fresh water in Kansas, so the actual source of infection cannot be determined. She was taken to a hospital with meningitis-like symptoms and testing revealed the amoeba infection.
It’s called Naegleria fowleri. It’s in lakes, rivers and hot springs. Infection is extremely rare. There have been fewer than 200 cases in the U.S. in more than 50 years. There was also a death in a Wichita-area resident in 2011.
Of course we have the antis up-in-arms to enact bans because two accidents with sub-machine guns, but two deaths by a lethal amoeba doesn’t even interest them. All are really sad cases, but only “Gun Deaths” Count.
H/T Bob
