--- title: A Brain-Eating Parasite Has Killed a 21-Year-Old California Woman description: Public health officials have confirmed that a brain-eating amoeba caused the death of a 21-year-old woman in eastern California last month. canonical: https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-03T03:38:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:06.540Z article:section: Health og:title: Brain-Eating Parasite Kills California Woman og:description: This is the second such fatality in the U.S. to occur in the last year og:url: https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e669f79ef63a1e3/69885988cd6848f3e40a0a8b/ap_471928601049.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 80121543 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brain-Eating Parasite Kills California Woman twitter:description: This is the second such fatality in the U.S. to occur in the last year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e669f79ef63a1e3/69885988cd6848f3e40a0a8b/ap_471928601049.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Brain-Eating Parasite Has Killed a 21-Year-Old California Woman ## Video: Ebola Fighters in the U.S. - TIME's Person of the Year 2014 [Watch (HLS stream): Ebola Fighters in the U.S. - TIME's Person of the Year 2014](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SBg4j1BY.m3u8) (6:15)  _Published 2014-12-10. Dr. Kent Brantly and other health care workers talk about surviving Ebola_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 3, 2015 3:38 AM UTC  'Do Not Allow Water To Enter Your Nose' Amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) warning sign at thermal pool, Roger's Spring, Lake Mead, Nevada, U.S.A. 'Do Not Allow Water To Enter Your Nose' Amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) warning sign at thermal pool, Roger's Spring, Lake Mead, Nevada, U.S.A.Mark Newman—AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 3, 2015 3:38 AM UTC Public health officials have confirmed that a brain-eating amoeba caused the death of a 21-year-old woman in eastern California last month, [the _Los Angeles Times_ reports.](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-woman-dies-of-brain-eating-amoeba-20150702-story.html) The woman contracted the parasite on private property in the town of Bishop, about 60 miles southeast of Yosemite National Park. She awoke from a nap last month with flu-like symptoms; physicians at Northern Inyo Hospital initially diagnosed her with meningitis. When her symptoms worsened, she was transported to a hospital in Reno, where she ultimately died of cardiac arrest. _Naegleria fowleri,_ as the amoeba is officially known, can thrive in warm freshwater and soil; infections result when contaminated water enters the nose, allowing the parasite to travel to the brain. It manifests itself first in flu-like symptoms — fever, vomiting, headaches — before inducing hallucinations, seizures, and, in more than 95 percent of instances, death. This is the second _naegleria fowleri-_related fatality in the U.S. to occur in the last year. In July 2014, nine-year-old Hally Yust died from the infection after water skiing in a contaminated lake in Kansas. The majority of cases in the country have been in the southeast. Health officials are eager to note, however, that the occurrences of the amoeba are rare and infections even rarer. “I want to emphasize that there have been no evident cases of amoeba contamination in the U.S. in well-maintained, properly treated swimming pools or hot springs,” Richard Johnson, a public health officer in Inyo County, California, told the _Times._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/"},"headline":"A Brain-Eating Parasite Has Killed a 21-Year-Old California Woman","datePublished":"2015-07-03T03:38:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:06.540Z","description":"This is the second such fatality in the U.S. to occur in the last year","url":"https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/","keywords":["California","Disease","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e669f79ef63a1e3/69885988cd6848f3e40a0a8b/ap_471928601049.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e669f79ef63a1e3/69885988cd6848f3e40a0a8b/ap_471928601049.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"80121543","caption":"80121543","creditText":"Mark Newman—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/","name":"A Brain-Eating Parasite Has Killed a 21-Year-Old California Woman"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ebola Fighters in the U.S. - TIME's Person of the Year 2014","description":"Dr. Kent Brantly and other health care workers talk about surviving Ebola","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SBg4j1BY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-10T11:44:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SBg4j1BY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/","duration":"PT6M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3945377/brain-eating-parasite-naegleria-fowleri-california-woman/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```