Amoeba caused Henrico boy's fatal infection

The Virginia Department of Health does not know — and may never know — from which body of water a Virginia child contracted a deadly infection from an amoeba.

"In all likelihood, we're never going to pinpoint exactly where this amoeba was acquired," said Dr. Keri Hall, the state epidemiologist.

Her department received results from an autopsy Friday that confirmed the cause of death as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is caused by Naegleria fowleri. She said the amoebas, which swim up the nose and enter the brain, live in freshwater bodies around the world.

She declined to identify the child, who died Aug. 5, but family members said he was Christian Alexander Strickland, 9, of Henrico County.

Hall's department has not tested area lakes, ponds and rivers where Christian spent time with a fishing camp the week before his death. Her department will "probably" do testing at various ponds and lakes in the region, but she said she doesn't know when the tests will be conducted and doesn't expect the sampling to be "particularly helpful."

The amoebas are particularly prevalent in shallow, still water during warm weather. But since Christian died, temperatures have dropped, and the amoeba population likely has fallen off as a result, Hall said.

The victim's mother, Amber Strickland, said he attended a camp run by the Richmond-based Virginia Fishing Adventures the week before he died and had been dunked the first day of camp. She believes that's when he took in the fatal, contaminated water.

She called Christian "the brightest, most beautiful child you'd ever meet."

"He went from playing video games to being brain dead," she said.

Strickland said she didn't know where Christian went fishing when he was attending the camp, but she was told the group visited the James River and ponds. "Christian told me they went to two or three different places a day," she said.

The amoeba swims up the nose, through the sinuses and into the space around the brain, causing meningoencephalitis — inflammation of the brain and its lining — in a day to two weeks, said Dr. Michael Edmond, epidemiologist for VCU Medical Center and chief of infectious diseases.

Tee Clarkson, who has run the camp for seven years, said he was saddened by Christian's death. "We feel horrible about this," he said. "It's a tragic event."

He added that it's impossible to know where Christian contracted the amoeba and whether it happened on a fishing trip.

He said the Virginia Department of Health asked him not to release the names of the water bodies where Christian and other campers went fishing. He said the agency did not suggest that he take his campers fishing in other locations the rest of the summer.

"The health department has told us they feel comfortable with us going back to all the places where we've been," Clarkson said.

However, he said he has made some changes in the way the camps operate, including spending more time fishing in the James River rather than in ponds, where amoebas are more likely to multiply. He has also warned campers to hold their noses if they go underwater and to try not to swallow fresh water.

Edmond said stagnant waters such as ponds and lakes pose more risks than moving waters. "Personally, I wouldn't swim in a pond, no matter what," he said. "The water isn't clean."

Though this is the first case of an amoeba death in Virginia since 1969, more than 100 people have died from amoebas in the U.S. since 1962.

Last week, a 16-year-old Florida girl died of an infection that officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed was the same deadly amoeba. Meningoencephalitis causes brain swelling and is often fatal.

Jeremy Lewis, a Texas father whose 7-year-old son, Kyle, died 11 months ago after contracting an amoeba while swimming in a pond with his family, said he wants to make people aware of the dangers of swimming in still water, particularly in warm weather.

Lewis wants to spread the message that people should not swim in ponds and lakes, especially in warm water, and if one does, to take precautions. He and his wife, Julie, formed the Kyle Lewis Amoeba Awareness Foundation to raise money and public knowledge about the parasite. He wants to get the word out that this isn't as rare as people think.

"Prevention is the only thing you have," said Lewis. "As a father who lost a child, I'm asking, why didn't I know about this?"