A Florida man has died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba infection that state health officials said could have been caused by inhaling aloe vera through the nose to clear out the sinuses.
The state’s Charlotte County Health Department confirmed Thursday that the man, who has not been identified, had Naegleria fowleri, according to NPR.
She added that federal and local health and environmental agencies “continue to coordinate this ongoing investigation, implement preventive actions, and take any necessary corrective actions.”
The single-celled amoeba lives in warm freshwater and, once in through the nose, can cause a rare but always fatal brain infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counted 157 cases of the disease in the United States between 1962 and 2022, with only four known survivors (and a fifth teenager has been in hospital since last summer, according to an online fundraiser by his family). ).