Brain eating Ameoba!
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070928/.../killer_amoeba

Man that would suck!

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

Wow, I feel bad for that kid and his family and basically everyone else who was just trying to enjoy the water and died from it.

Thank gooodness for cold MN lakes. I'm going to go ahead and just not swim in lakes in the south. Pools will work fine for me. mmmm... chlorine.

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

Damn that is just sad. Let's go swimming!

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

Thats some scary stuff.. wow.

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

That is crazy, off to a hot scum filled water holding tank for a quick dip.

~John

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

Holy shit, pretty sure I am never going swimming again.

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

I will be sticking to the pool's down south

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

alot easier that way huh?

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

It wont affect my swimming at all. I just wont be snorting water. I was actually thinking of going to havasu falls (as in havasupai falls in the grand canyon, not to be confused with havasu lake) this winter. I won't let an isolated case like this scare me off though.

Any activity can be made to sound dangerous with a little bad publicity. People have died on escalators, probably a lot more than have died from this little brain eating guy, but that doesn't stop me from using them.

Life is too short to be scared off by little things like this. I would much rather live a short life and die doing something I like, than live a long life hiding in the corner afraid to open the door.

Take a few precautions and use some common sense and you'll be fine. Not just for swimming, but for anything in life. Just my opinion.

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

That's too bad. I'd like to die at an old age doing something I like, not after suffering for two weeks after doing something I liked (like swimming). The boys who have died from this got the bug while doing activities they like, then went home and died in the hospital. Probably not very exciting.

People here in the US are pretty stupid if they don't have a sign telling them what to do (like not swim in a green pool). People generally won't take precautions unless some are suggested to them. At least from what I gather from articles like this.

And as far as a few isolated cases, it was like that untill this year when there was a spike and concentration of cases.

Re: Brain eating Ameoba!
 

I think the point is that you can't let every little "what if" stop you from enjoying life the way you like to live it. I enjoy being in lakes, and won't let a 1 in a million chance of getting this, and some random one time spike, stop me from doing it. More people have probably died this year in boating accidents, and I don't let it stop me from boating. I don't let car accidents stop me from driving. I don't let people dieing while snowboarding, stop me from doing it. You just have to be cautious like you said, but don't let it take over your life. I still plan on going in lakes, just have to be cautious and maybe not go swim in the area that's all mucky.