Olympic-bound teen athlete falls ill from brain-eating amoeba

A Texas teen who qualified for the Junior Olympics for track has contracted an aggressive brain eating amoeba.

Michael Riley Jr., 14, was getting ready for his first day of high school when doctors confirmed he contracted the amoeba after being in a lake two weeks prior. Riley is a track star and when meeting with his team and coach at Sam Houston State Park on August 13, he spent the day running, working out and swimming in the lake, according to Fox News.

Within a week, Riley was complaining about a headache and had a slight fever which then turned into severe neck pain and an increasingly more painful headache. When his family had realized he was also becoming visibly disoriented, they took him to Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH). The doctors examined him at that point and recognized the same symptoms they had seen in a previous case weeks prior.

“TCH performed many tests but also ran an uncommon one that would help diagnose that Michael had contracted a brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria fowler, which then causes a rare disease, Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM),” the family posted on their GoFundMe page. The doctors also concluded that he contracted the amoeba from the lake.

Riley was placed in a medically-induced coma in order for experts to treat him with an experimental drug that is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The family posted on Tuesday that there had been increased brain swelling and that doctors are hoping to see more brain activity soon.

To support their son and others at risk, Riley’s family is working hard to raise awareness about the danger of the brain-eating amoeba and spreading knowledge on how to prevent infection. At this time, the CDC is reporting a 95 percent fatality rate for the infection.

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