‘This amoeba is about 1/10 of the width of a human hair. Typically, the contaminated water enters the nose, enabling the amoeba to travel to the brain. This brain infection is rare but often fatal.’
12-year-old died on July 18, 2025, from a rare brain-eating amoeba after swimming in Lake Murray in South Carolina, near a Columbia reservoir. The infection was caused by Naegleria fowleri amoeba, commonly found in warm freshwater, mainly in July, August, and September. The disease is called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). This is the first case reported since 2016.
“Most Naegleria fowleri infections have been linked to swimming in southern states. However, geographical areas where infections happen are changing. Since 2010, infections have been confirmed in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, and northern California. Climate change may be a contributing factor,” according to medical reports.
In early August, a 4-year-old child died from the same infection in Louisiana, the “cause is lurking in the water pipes of St. Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans.”
This amoeba is about 1/10 of the width of a human hair. Typically, the contaminated water enters the nose, enabling the amoeba to travel to the brain. This brain infection is rare but often fatal. Symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and can progress very fast to coma and death.
Avoid swimming in warm freshwater areas and use nose clips when swimming or diving.
Occasional survivors have been treated with a combination of amphotericin, fluconazole, B. rifampin, and (especially) miltefosine. Studies are ongoing to find more effective therapies, including mRNA vaccines and medications from natural sources.
House Bill 1150
This is a law that could affect all of us, sooner or later. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law in April House Bill 1150, prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies in Arkansas, effective 2026, a first-of-its-kind law in the United States. Hopefully, all other states will follow to reduce drug prices and protect Americans from PBMs, who have been “taking advantage of lax regulations to abuse customers” and “inflate drug prices.”
How Canada, for one, could have much less costly medicines compared to the USA is a challenge President Trump has taken on. Many Americans have been ordering medications from Canada online, and those in the border drive to Canada to buy their medications.
Oxygen ‘booster’ scam
You may have seen “Mr. Wonderful” on TV advertising Boost oxygen cannisters (around $15 each). Another brand is SPO2ER. Oxygen “boosters,” like the Oxygen Bars at airports selling oxygen inhalation therapy by the minute, are nothing but a money-making scam. People who can walk and speak in complete sentences well do not need any oxygen boost. The 21 percent ambient oxygen in the atmosphere is sufficient and healthier, and free! Excess oxygen is unhealthy and can lead to oxygen toxicity that harms the respiratory system. An oxygen supplement is recommended for individuals with severe COPD, heart failure, or shortness of breath on exertion or after rigorous exercise. Oxygen supplements are of no benefit to healthy individuals and their pocketbooks.
Scams like this, and the trillion-dollar hyped-up unregulated food supplement industry victimizing unsuspecting consumers, are matters I wish Health Secretary RF Kennedy Jr. would address to protect the public.
Microplastic hazards
In a previous column, I wrote about microplastics being in everybody’s brain, and in animals too, in the amount equivalent to the plastic in one plastic spoon (about 7 grams) in each individual, in all of us. These particles are also in our blood, liver, lungs, and other tissues, and cause inflammation, respiratory and cardiovascular problems, harm our microbiome (leading to gastrointestinal problems), adversely affect the immune system, and increase the risk for Alzheimer’s.
The air we breathe in is a great source of microplastics. Plastic-bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of microplastics and nanoplastics, shed from the plastic bottles, food containers, plastic cutting boards, etc. Instead of wooden cutting boards, which are embedded with dirt, titanium cutting boards are healthier substitutes. Glass-bottled water, which has passed through reverse osmosis, which filters out microplastics, is safe. Grocery items in plastic containers are also sources of microplastics. Food containers at home should be made of glass and the lid, also of glass, or of silicone. For cookware, stainless steel is healthier than aluminum wares, because aluminum could leach into the food. Styrofoam leaches a lot of harmful chemicals, including Benzene, styrene, and phthalates, especially when the content is hot or being microwaved.
To avoid consuming more microplastics, one can use an under-sink or a countertop 5-9 stage water filtration system with Reverse Osmosis and a UVC lamp, modestly priced on Amazon.com
In this era of information and awareness, we have to adjust and reset our mindset, habits, and behavior for a better life.
Diet, health, longevity
While daily exercise (even Tai Chi, a non-strenuous activity, or walking) is very important to health, the food we eat is even more significant and overwhelmingly vital to our health and longevity. Those who watch the quality and quantity of their food will end up healthier (fewer ailments) in the end than those who exercise a lot but do not watch their diet. A wise combination of the two, plus stress management, minus alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs – an overall healthy lifestyle – would maximize our health and longevity to its full natural potential.
To a significant extent, our health and longevity, our destiny in general, are in our hands. Not fully, but greatly.
