|
 The 14-year-old Michael Riley Jr., a junior Olympian and honor
student, seemed to have contracted the disease after he went
swimming on Aug. 13 with his track team, his father Mike Riley told
KTRK earlier this week.
"It is with a heavy heart, that we let everyone know that Michael
John Riley Jr. lost his battle on this earth but won a victory for
his place in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ," the family said in
a statement on their Facebook page late on Saturday night.
A spokeswoman for Texas Children's Hospital, where Riley had been
listed as a patient, declined to provide information when reached on
Sunday, citing patient confidentiality.
The disease is caused by exposure to a single-celled organism known
as Naegleria fowleri, often referred to as the brain-eating amoeba.
It is commonly found in warm freshwater such as lakes, rivers and
hot springs, as well as soil. It usually infects people when
contaminated water enters the body through the nose, according to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Contracting the
brain disease is rare, it said.
[to top of second column] |
The organism is most commonly encountered in the southern United
States during the summer, when temperatures are highest, the CDC
said. Of 133 people known to have been infected with it in the
United States since 1962, only three have survived, the CDC said.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Marguerita
Choy)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
