North Carolina health officials pinpoint community water feature as likely source of fatal brain infection
State health investigators say a man-made water feature at a Durham County mental-health center was the most probable exposure site for the Naegleria fowleri infection that killed an 18-year-old teen in August.
North Carolina health officials have identified a decorative water feature at El Futuro, a community-based mental health center in Durham County, as the most likely source of the Naegleria fowleri infection that claimed the life of a teenager in late August. The Department of Health and Human Services said the teen was hospitalized on Aug. 22 after experiencing severe headaches and other worsening symptoms, received a confirmed diagnosis on Aug. 26, and died on Aug. 31.
Investigators considered several possible exposure sites, including a pool at an apartment complex in Orange County, but focused on the Durham County water feature after finding inadequate disinfection, visible algal growth and non-viable N. fowleri in water samples. Both locations were closed for testing, and the Durham County feature remains shut to the public.
"The lack of effective disinfection, visible algal growth, and detection of non-viable N. fowleri from the water feature" support the conclusion that it was the likely source, the health department said in a September 15 release.
Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that thrives in warm freshwater, is rare in the United States, with only 167 cases reported from 1962 through 2024. Infection typically occurs when contaminated water enters the nose, leading to symptoms such as severe headache, fever, nausea, stiff neck, seizures and rapid progression to coma and death within days.
The department emphasized that while the investigation cannot definitively prove the exposure site, the evidence points to the Durham County water feature as the probable origin of the fatal infection.