Health officials issue urgent warning about swimming in disease-infested lakes as more than two dozen youngsters fall sick in Virginia READ MORE: Person in Georgia dies from brain-eating amoeba after dip in lake By Luke Andrews Senior Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com Published: 16:05, 14 June 2024 | Updated: 21:36, 14 June 2024 e-mail 14 shares 16 View comments Americans are being warned to take care while swimming in lakes this summer — after several children suffered from kidney failure after taking a dip in freshwater. The patients fell ill days after playing in Lake Anna, Virginia , over Memorial Day weekend, with symptoms including diarrhea, dehydration and stomach cramps.
In total 20 people — mostly children — have fallen sick after swimming in the lake, while several have also been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Testing shows many of the patients are infected with E.
coli, a bacteria that can infest lakes and rivers, usually when sewage is dumped into them. Officials are testing for other bugs, however, including the deadly brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri — which kills more than 97 percent of those it infects. Ava Inglett, 15, is among those to have been sickened with kidney failure after catching E.
coli from a freshwater lake in Virginia The infections have been linked to Lake Anna, which is about 70 miles south of Washington DC Amoebas appear to be becoming more common in freshwater, as warmer weather heats lakes and streams. Families who h.