This is amazing. A 16-year-old in Florida has defied the odds and become the fourth U.S. patient to ever survive a battle with a brain-eating amoeba. Click here to get all the details on the medical marvel.
Sebastian DeLeon, 16, of South Florida recently became the fourth patient in the United States to survive after contracting a brain-eating amoeba, Florida Today reported. How incredible is that? It is believed that Sebastian was infected with the amoeba while working as a camp counselor and swimming on private property, according to Florida Department of Health officials.
On Aug. 5, the teen began developing meningitis-like symptoms and an intense headache during a family vacation in Orlando, said Dr. Humberto Liriano, a pediatric intensivist at Florida Hospital for Children. His family took him to the emergency room two days after Sebastian complained the headache was so bad he could not stand people touching him. While at the hospital, he was put on meds, put into a chemically-induced coma, and had his body temperature lowered to 33 degrees all in a 72-hour period.
See photos of Randy & Sharon Budd, the couple who suffered greatly after her permanent brain damage
“We woke him up, and we decided to take the breathing tube out. And within hours, he spoke,” Humberto said during a Aug. 23 press conference.“Since then, he’s done tremendously well. We are very optimistic. He’s walking. He’s speaking. I saw him this morning. He’s ready to go home.”
Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba that attacked Sebastian, is microscopic and usually found in warm freshwater, including lakes, rivers and streams. When the amoeba enters through the nose, it can cause an extremely rare and serious brain infection, said Dr. Rajan Wadhawan, the hospital’s chief medical officer. “In the past 50 years, only four people in the United States have been reported to have survived out of the 138 cases reported, giving it almost a 97 percent mortality rate,” Rajan said. We are SO glad to hear that Sebastian was one of the survivors.
HollywoodLifers, leave your well wishes for Sebastian and his family below!