--- 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2848 og:image:height: 1602 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Brain-Eating Parasite Has Killed a 21-Year-Old California Woman > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## 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._ ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] When a disaster comes to the place where you are you can either choose to flea. Or to stay and respond to it. I went to Liberia in the first place to serve the people of Liberia and West Africa and Ebola outbreak didn't change that purpose. In fact it emphasized it a little more. [ MUSIC ] We first heard about Ebola in Liberia in March. I was actually at a picnic and somebody said, have you heard that there's an Ebola outbreak in Guinea and it's spread across the border to Liberia? One of our doctors was very concerned about the possibility of it coming to our. Mission Hospital. She felt that we should prepare an isolation unit. Not so much in case we had ebola, but when we, received an ebola patient. My choice to stay in Liberia and take care of patients with ebola and help fight this outbreak is really a natural response. [ MUSIC ] The day I found out that I had Ebola, it was a Saturday. It was July 26th. It was on July 22nd the last day I went to the isolation unit. Wasn't feeling really great, but it felt very much like malaria. So for the next four days, took malaria medication. I was lying in my bed, in my house, where I had been quarantined. And Dr. Lance Plyler who is the disaster response team leader for Samaritan's Purse was standing outside my bedroom window. And Dr. John Thankhouser, one of my colleagues and friends who was caring for me was in my room with me in full PPE. And Lance said, Kent bud, we have your test results. And I'm really sorry to tell you that it's positive for Ebola. [ MUSIC ] David came home. Told me that Kent Brantly had Ebola and, and that was really tough. Because Kent and Amber are not only colleagues but, but they're good friends. [ MUSIC ] And then David sat in the ICU also having Ebola. It's really a very surreal moment, it was a very solemn moment. I remember David reaching out to comfort me, put his arms around me and I just said don't and I knew how dangerous it was. My first response was okay. So what's next? What's our plan? How am I gonna tell my wife? I felt a very strange but overwhelming sense of peace. Obviously, when you get that kind of news, it's sobering and it's, it's hard to hear. At that time I was. Concerned about my family and what it would put them through for me to be sick. But I had a sense of calm that I knew I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I didn't know whether I would live. I didn't know whether I would die. But the Lord just gave me this sense of peace. Two Americans both infected with the deadly virus are returning home to the U. S.. Doctor Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol. The first time I heard the word Ebola it was probably when they were doing all the coverage about Doctor Brantly and Nancy and then when I heard it in Dallas it was couple hours before I was about to get Mr. Duncan as, as my patient. An individual travelling from Liberia has been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. I was just feeling confused, shock, as to how it could've gotten here. Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Is fighting for his life. I was selected as a part of the team. There was no question in my mind whether or not I would take care of the patient or not. There was a patient in my unit on my floor and it was my job. My responsibility to take care of him. It's part of who I am. Nursing is a calling. There was a patient that needed help [ MUSIC ] I did everything that the CDC and the hospital recommended of me. How to put on the personal protective equipment, how to take it off. I even interviewed with the CDC and the hospital after I took care of Mr. Duncan, and they deemed me no risk. So it was just a shock. When I got the results back that my, I was positive for Ebola I almost didn't hear it. It's kind of a blur. My chief nursing officer Cole Edmondson, and then a CDC doctor came in the room in their full protective. Equipment. I saw his eyes and they had been red from crying and I knew immediately, when he told me, I just, my heart dropped. And it was a devastating news. It really was. [ MUSIC ] Because Mr. Duncan had died. Three days prior. I think flashback started coming to my head of how his disease progressed. And eventually it led to his death. Even after the last case of Ebola is finished there's gonna be a. Very broken and weak healthcare system that's gonna need to be rebuilt. Our concern and our great hope is that even though it's quieted down here, that we will not allow it to just not be addressed anymore. We live in a global community. We need to. Recognize that people on the other side of the world, they are our neighbors, and we need to treat them with love and compassion, and respect, just like we do to the person who lives in the house next door to us. ```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"}}] ```