Missouri natives swim off the Iowa coast when infected (Image: Getty Images)

Health officials say a man suspected of being infected with a brain-eating amoeba has died after swimming off Iowa beaches.

Officials with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced Friday that the swimmers died on July 7, after contracting the rare and often deadly Naegleria fauli infection.

According to authorities, a swimmer from Missouri is believed to have been bitten by an amoeba while swimming in Taylor County, Iowa. The rare amoebae are most commonly found in warm freshwater, such as lakes and rivers.

The patient was being treated in the intensive care unit for a life-threatening brain infection known as primary amoeba meningoencephalitis, officials said.

The death of an unidentified patient was first reported by The Des Moines Register.

After that, the CDC tested the water and the presence of a rare amoeba was confirmed (Image: Getty Images).

Because these cases are extremely rare and do not respect the family, we do not release additional information about patients that could lead to the identification of Missouri Director of Health and Communications Lisa Cox. The service is recorded in a registry statement.

Authorities first learned of the infection from the CDC on July 6. Cox told the newspaper that the swimmer likely became infected with the amoeba while swimming in Lake Iowa during the last two weeks of June.

The date the patient died from the infection is unknown.

On July 8, the beach was temporarily closed to beachgoers as “a preventative response to an identified Naegleria fowleri infection in Missouri residents who may have recently been exposed while swimming at the beach.”

During this time, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services conducted tests with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to confirm the presence of Naegleria faureli in the water.

According to the CDC, only four of the 154 known cases of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis reported in the United States since 1962 are alive.

If water containing amoeba enters the body through the nose, it can infect humans. The amoeba can then move to the brain and destroy brain tissue.

Symptoms of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis include severe headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, and cramps. According to the CDC, this type of infection occurs mainly in the summer and in the southern states of the United States.

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