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6 die from brain-eating amoeba

6 die from brain-eating amoeba after swimming
Rare organism that lives in lakes entered victimsâ€™ bodies through the nose
PHOENIX - It sounds like science fiction but itâ€™s true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, itâ€™s killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.

â€œThis is definitely something we need to track,â€ said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

â€œThis is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better,â€ Beach said. â€œIn future decades, as temperatures rise, weâ€™d expect to see more cases.â€

According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWLâ€™-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases â€” three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.

In Arizona, David Evans said nobody knew his son, Aaron, was infected with the amoeba until after the 14-year-old died on Sept. 17. At first, the teen seemed to be suffering from nothing more than a headache.

â€œWe didnâ€™t know,â€ Evans said. â€œAnd here I am: I come home and Iâ€™m burying him.â€

After doing more tests, doctors said Aaron probably picked up the amoeba a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu, a popular man-made lake on the Colorado River between Arizona and California.

Deadly infection
Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment.

Beach said people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose â€” say, by doing a somersault in chest-deep water â€” the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve.

The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain, where it continues the damage, â€œbasically feeding on the brain cells,â€ Beach said.

People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers. In the later stages, theyâ€™ll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes, he said.

Once infected, most people have little chance of survival. Some drugs have stopped the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have been attacked rarely survive, Beach said.

â€œUsually, from initial exposure itâ€™s fatal within two weeks,â€ he said.

Researchers still have much to learn about Naegleria. They donâ€™t know why, for example, children are more likely to be infected, and boys are more often victims than girls.

â€œBoys tend to have more boisterous activities (in water), but we€™re not clear,â€ Beach said.
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im not swimming in lakes anymore....

Thread by: .Kairi., Sep 29, 2007, 10 replies, in forum: Current Events
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how do I...

...put a marquee(sp?) in my sig?

Thread by: .Kairi., Sep 28, 2007, 2 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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might leave...

im probably going to leave at the end of the week. no one know who i am, and i've been here since march. i dont really have any friends on this site, so i dont see the point of spending so much time in a place where i have no friends.

Thread by: .Kairi., Sep 26, 2007, 17 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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i thought there were default usertitles...

...so why do i see people that arent premuim with custom usertitles?

Thread by: .Kairi., Sep 18, 2007, 11 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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Traditional Art sora sketch

drawn from the back cover of kh2. the hair didnt come out as good as i wouldve liked, and the little crowned heart thing in the corner is a ****y watermark xD any advice?

Thread by: .Kairi., Sep 13, 2007, 31 replies, in forum: Arts & Graphics
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1,500 plus CPDRC inmates at practice

i dont know if this is old or not, but its what we talked about in music class today... O.o
Thriller

Sister Act

Thread by: .Kairi., Sep 10, 2007, 0 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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the forum is dead

is everyone at school? :(

Thread by: .Kairi., Sep 5, 2007, 7 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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miss teen usa answers a question

south carolina must be so proud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 28, 2007, 6 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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on tv?!

the guy in 'shoes' and 'muffins' on youtube is going to be on tv... i have to see that...

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 20, 2007, 4 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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recalls

every time i watch the news something is recalled and its always stuff made in china. 431 Chinese-made products-- 150 toys, 73 household goods and 53 baby products have been recalled since 2005.

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 14, 2007, 0 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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united states life span shorter than 41 other countries

U.S. life span shorter
August 11, 2007 05:08:02 PM PST

Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.

For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.

Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.

"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, according to the Census Bureau. It was followed by Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore.

The shortest life expectancies were clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well as famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

Researchers said several factors have contributed to the United States falling behind other industrialized nations. A major one is that 45 million Americans lack health insurance, while Canada and many European countries have universal health care, they say.

But "it's not as simple as saying we don't have national health insurance," said Sam Harper, an epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal. "It's not that easy."

Among the other factors:

â€¢ Adults in the United States have one of the highest obesity rates in the world. Nearly a third of U.S. adults 20 years and older are obese, while about two-thirds are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

"The U.S. has the resources that allow people to get fat and lazy," said Paul Terry, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta. "We have the luxury of choosing a bad lifestyle as opposed to having one imposed on us by hard times."

â€¢ Racial disparities. Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans.

Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years, slightly longer than the averages for Iran and Syria and slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco.

â€¢ A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations.

Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in 2004. The U.S. rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. It was 13.7 for Black Americans, the same as Saudi Arabia.

"It really reflects the social conditions in which African American women grow up and have children," said Dr. Marie C. McCormick, professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School of Public Health. "We haven't done anything to eliminate those disparities."

Another reason for the U.S. drop in the ranking is that the Census Bureau now tracks life expectancy for a lot more countries â€” 222 in 2004 â€” than it did in the 1980s. However, that does not explain why so many countries entered the rankings with longer life expectancies than the United States.

Murray, from the University of Washington, said improved access to health insurance could increase life expectancy. But, he predicted, the U.S. won't move up in the world rankings as long as the health care debate is limited to insurance.

Policymakers also should focus on ways to reduce cancer, heart disease and lung disease, said Murray. He advocates stepped-up efforts to reduce tobacco use, control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.

"Even if we focused only on those four things, we would go along way toward improving health care in the United States," Murray said. "The starting point is the recognition that the U.S. does not have the best health care system. There are still an awful lot of people who think it does."
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your thoughts on this?

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 12, 2007, 3 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
Thread
flies...

yesterday we had some house renovations done. when my mom and i came home there were about 30 flies in the house. i spent 3 hours trying to kill them. i killed 20 so far but it seems like with every one i get a new one appears. its so annoying. i hate flies

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 9, 2007, 1 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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im bored

someone give me a cookie.

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 9, 2007, 3 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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Digital Art first sprite

i followed this sprite tut from deviantart. i dont have photoshop so i did it on gimp. i dont think the outcome was as good, so if anyone knows a good sprite tut please pm it to me

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 8, 2007, 4 replies, in forum: Arts & Graphics
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the 'type with your nose' thread

^what the title says. type things with your nose.

that took awhile to type xD

Thread by: .Kairi., Aug 3, 2007, 11 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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a rant about swim team awards

my swim team had the award banquet last night and they give out special awards- MVP, most dedicated, most improved, most team spirit, and best newcomer. this year some of these awards were given out unfairly. one girl got most team spirit, but she was never on the sides cheering the team on. i know this for a fact since she was always playing with my sister. then this girl's brother got most dedicated. he would go to practices but never got in the water, he complained that he didnt want to do swim team anymore and always gave the coach a hard time. he wasnt dedicated at all.this is the 3rd year in a row the girl has recieved special awards for things she doesnt do. they only got special awards because thier mom is the parent rep and a kiss-up to the coach.

then the girl strted telling us who would get the awards! she knew what person would get them since her mom knew and told her. thats really low.

im not jealous of these kids, i just think its pathetic that this is how awards are given.

Thread by: .Kairi., Jul 30, 2007, 1 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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anyone wanna play?

anyone wanna play halo?

Thread by: .Kairi., Jul 27, 2007, 27 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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halo download

i just downloaded the halo trial, and when it was done it asked me if i wanted to run it. i clicked 'run' and nothing happened... what should i do?

Thread by: .Kairi., Jul 27, 2007, 0 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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bother

Thread by: .Kairi., Jul 26, 2007, 5 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
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roxas hates waffles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM5oZ7qNEMk

Thread by: .Kairi., Jul 23, 2007, 3 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone

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