Girl Who Died Of Brain-Eating Amoeba From McDuffie County
We learned recently that a person died from a very rare, brain-eating amoeba after swimming at an undisclosed location in Georgia. Now it’s been confirmed the victim was 17-year-old Megan Ebenroth of Dearing. Ebenroth was a rising senior at Thomson High School. Her family confirms Megan was swimming with friends at an undisclosed lake with friends July 11 when she contracted the Naegleria flowleri amoeba.
The brain-eating organism lives in warm, freshwater lakes, rivers, ponds and hot springs, and can cause an extremely rare infection when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose. The symptoms of the infection resemble those of viral meningitis, leading to a delay in the diagnosis and treatment.
Ebenrother’s mother, Christina Ebenroth, told health officials her daughter awakened with a bad headache four days after she’d gone swimming. She was treated at an urgent care clinic initially for a migraine, then later for a sinus infection. Her condition quickly worsened with a high fever. At that point, Ebenroth’s parents took her to Doctors Hospital for treatment. She was later transferred to Children’s Hospital of Georgia where she died July 22. Ebenroth’s parents were only told the day before her death it was believed she had contracted the amoeba.
Officials still won’t disclose the location where Ebenroth and her friends were swimming other than to say it was a lake not far from her home in McDuffie County.
Naegleria fowleri infections are very rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, there were only 157 cases reported within a 60-year period between 1962 and 2022.
