to be glad we made it out of Florida alive: Deadly amoeba lurks in Florida lakes
At first people exposed to the amoeba, naegleria fowleri, suffer from flu-like symptoms. Very quickly, in from one to 14 days, the symptoms worsen, Sherin said. "There's a downhill course. Folks lapse into a coma; there are abnormal movements of the eyes and a terrible cascade of events leading to the actual death of parts of the brain."
Lovely. If the sharks and stingrays in the water, coupled with criminals and maniacs on the shore, keep you off the saltwater beaches... And if you aren't eaten by an alligator or bitten by a snake... Florida is still out to kill you.
But one bit in particular caught my eye. Just in case there weren't enough people hanging out in the Emergency Rooms of the Sunshine State, the Folks Who Work Somewhere Else have helpful advice.
[A Health Department official] said anyone who exhibits flu-like symptoms who has been in a lake recently should see a doctor immediately.
"I was recently in a lake and now I believe my brain is rotting," I'd guess, is not going to move you to the front of the line.
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