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Boy With Amoeba Infection Hangs on

Naegleria fowleri, a fresh water amoeba that attacks the brain, usually kills its victims before they can get treatment. But as the Orlando Sentinel reports, a 12-year-old boy infected in South Florida last week is still alive, being treated at Miami Children’s Hospital.

He's being treated with a drug that helped an Arkansas girl his age recover from the amoeba infection last month. She’s only the third person to survive this kind of infection since 1962.

 

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.