Donnie Strickland, his aunt, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that "the doctor described [the bacterial infection] as such a slight chance that they didn't even think it would be possible."
When asked by the Times-Dispatch, health department officials would only confirm a case of meningitis and an infection by naegleria fowler and would not comment on Strickland's case.
"Sadly, we have had a Naegleria infection in Virginia this summer," Dr. Keri Hall, state epidemiologist at the Virginia Department of Health, told the Times-Dispatch. "It's important that people be aware of… safe swimming messages."
The bacteria kills when it moves into the body through the nose and destroys brain tissue. Infections almost always result in meningitis.
ABC News reported that earlier this month, Courtney Nash, 16, died as a result of a naegleria fowleri infection in Florida after swimming in the St. John's River. She was diving off a dock with her family.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's statement on naegleria fowleri states that the amoeba "enters the nasal passages… and migrates to the olfactory nerves, eventually invading the brain."
"From 1995 to 2004, N. fowler killed 23 persons in the United States, including two children in the Phoenix, Arizona, area in 2002, who had been exposed to well water but had not consumed it. There have been six documented deaths in 2007, all in warmer regions (Arizona, Texas, Florida)," the statement continued.
