Brain-Eating Amoeba Cited in Girl's Death
S A N F R A N C I S C O, April 23 -- A brain-eating amoeba is being blamed for the death of a 3-year-old in California's San Francisco Bay area.
Aletha Willis died just over a week ago from what doctors believe to be balamuthia — a form of encephalitis so rare there have only been 100 cases and so deadly only one person has survived.
"It seems like its a bad nightmare, but we're awake and it's reality," says Frank Peters, Aletha's grandfather, who raised Aletha with his wife Teresa.
Researchers have yet to discover the source of the amoeba, which is found mostly in soil and water.
Terera Peters, Willis' grandmother, worries it will strike again.
"If this is so rare and they can't find a source, who's going to be the next victim?" Peters asks.
Rare Disease
However, amoeba expert Fred Schuster says there is no need for the public to panic.
"The likelihood of a person coming down with this balamuthian encephalitis is probably similar to the likelihood of you winning the California lottery two weeks in succession," Schuster says. "It's pretty small."
Carol Glaser, medical officer at the state department of health in Richmond, says they are still trying to track how the disease is spread.
"Some people believe it may be inhaled," Glaser says. "It may be through cuts in your skin, [and] probably then goes into your blood system and, at that point, travels to your brain.
ABC Affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco and ABCNEWS Radio contributed to this report.
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