Hold your nose!

Notice how the articles says ALL bodies of fresh water. More reasons not to swim in the lake. I can't even count how many times water went up my nose when water skiing or tubing...

Boy dies of meningitis contracted in Lake LBJ
Travis County 12-year-old got illness while at summer camp.
Thursday, August 16, 2007

A 12-year-old Travis County boy who contracted a rare, usually fatal type of meningitis after swimming in Lake LBJ lost a six-day fight for his life on Wednesday.

John Patrick "Jack" Herrera died at Dell Children's Medical Center of amebic meningoencephalitis, a severe brain infection. He would have been a seventh-grader this fall at Canyon Vista Middle School in the Round Rock school district.

Jack was stricken while at summer camp, where he swam many times in the past three weeks, a family friend said. The parasite invades the brain and surrounding tissue when a person inhales water through the nose.

The camp notified Jack's family Friday evening the he was sick, and he was taken to Seton Highland Lakes Hospital in Burnet. He was immediately flown to Dell Children's, but, as is often the case with the disease, his condition was already critical.

Since 1972, 34 other Texas cases of the illness have been confirmed, and all of the patients died, said Emily Palmer, spokeswoman for the Department of State Health Services. The fatality rate worldwide is about 95 percent, according to scientific articles.

Jack's family declined to be interviewed but asked for prayers and thanked the hospital staff, saying they were grateful for the outpouring of love from others.

The family issued a statement saying that Jack lived "12½ wonderful years" and that his organs were being donated "so that other children may live and overcome their terrible afflictions."

The amoebas responsible for the illness live in soil and in all bodies of fresh water — rivers, lakes, streams, stock ponds — except for those fed by spring water, which often is too cool for them to survive, Palmer said.

The parasites like water above 80 degrees, especially when it's stagnant. They don't live in properly maintained chlorinated pools or in salt water but can be found in hot springs and hot tubs.

Infection causes fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck and hallucinations.

maroser@statesman.com; 445-3619

Grandmother

She sits like a canvas folding chair, brown legs crossed
small, light, temporary
across the room from where they used to sit together.

But with him no longer with her in breath
with her in warmth, with her in grandparenthood
she stands like an old umbrella, alone
folded, shrunken, resigned
leaning against the wall where he left her without her.

And in the moments when I see her live
in patience, in slivers of participatory existence, waiting
I, her granddaughter, love her and worry
about the quiet hour of my age.

She knows she will end an inward lady, waiting
to be called, watching
those in front of her, watching their arm chairs, couches
watching their lives emptying into old age.

Those behind in their turn, watch
watch her without her, anticipating
the devastation of her departure without them.