A service will be held at a Houston-area church to remember a 14-year-old swimmer who died after contracting a brain infection linked to a rare amoeba.
Michael Riley Jr. died Sunday. A memorial service was scheduled Friday night at Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land.
Relatives said the boy developed a headache and became disoriented after swimming with his cross country team Aug. 13 at a lake north of Houston.
He was diagnosed with a rare type of encephalitis, called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba.
Associate Pastor Clif Cummings said Tuesday that Riley was not a Sugar Creek Baptist Church member but earlier attended church camp and made lots of friends.
Cummings said the teen took part in church activities several weeks before the unrelated outing in which he became sick.
More on Naegleria fowleri from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
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Naegleria fowleri (commonly referred to as the "brain-eating amoeba" or "brain-eating ameba"), is a free-living microscopic ameba*, (single-celled living organism). It can cause a rare** and devastating infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). The amoeba is commonly found in warm freshwater (e.g. lakes, rivers, and hot springs) and soil. Naegleria fowleri usually infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. Once the ameba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes PAM, which is usually fatal. Infection typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places, like lakes and rivers. In very rare instances, Naegleria infections may also occur when contaminated water from other sources (such as inadequately chlorinated swimming pool water or heated and contaminated tap water) enters the nose. You cannot get infected from drinking water contaminated with Naegleria.
