A teenage boy has been hospitalised after contracting a brain-eating amoeba - a cell organism that has the ability to alter its shape - while swimming in Florida.
Caleb Ziegelbauer, 13, caught the the life-threatening infection while swimming at Port Charlotte Beach on July 1.
Five days later, the boy complained of a headache, that was then followed by a fever and disorientation.
Caleb was immediately rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed with meningitis and placed in the Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU).
Doctors then later confirmed the amoeba was causing his illness.
In most cases, many of those infected show no symptoms at all as the amoeba lives quietly in their gut. However, in some humans, the parasite attacks the gut itself and can cause potentially fatal diarrhea, intestinal ulcers, and liver abscesses.
Speaking about the heartbreak the family has endured, Caleb’s aunt, Katie Chiet, told NBC2 : “A lot of times people don’t get to the hospital quickly enough. We’re hoping that we did.
Another aunt, Elizabeth Ziegelbauer, added: “He’s just the kindest soul but he’s so strong. He’s so strong. Like the fighting on the outside, that’s what we’re doing.
“He is fighting his little heart out on the inside.”
Chiet then went on to explain that Caleb was showing symptoms for a couple of days before the family realised that where he went swimming could have been the cause of the amoeba.
“He started to receive the CDC protocol to treat the amoeba on July 10,” she wrote in the GoFundMe post.
“He required a brief period of sedation and intubation but has been breathing on his own for almost a full week now!” the update continued.
“His MRI scan from 7/20 continues to show damage in his brain left by the amoeba but we remain hopeful that he’ll turn the corner soon and make his way back to us.”
Chiet and Ziegelbauer added in the post that they are raising money "to be able to take some burden off of them so they can continue to fight on the outside so Caleb can fight on the inside".
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Naegleria fowleri is a rare disease that is almost always fatal, with only four out of 154 people in the US having survived the infection from 1962 to 2021.
It causes a rare and almost always fatal infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis.
Earlier this month, a similar incident happened in Iowa where a freshwater beach was shut down. There, a woman from Missouri swam in the waters and became infected with the amoeba.
To donate to Caleb's GoFundMe, click here.
