A Texas surfing resort is being tested by the Centers for Disease Control following a Ventnor man’s from a brain-eating amoeba, according to a news report.
BSR Surf Resort closed Friday, a week after Fabrizio “Fab” Stabile died of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare but deadly brain infection caused by a “brain-eating amoeba” called Naegleria fowleri,
according to the Waco Tribune-Herald.
Stabile, 29, was back home in Ventnor mowing his lawn Sept. 16, when he suddenly experienced a severe headache and went to lie down, according to a GoFundMe page set up to raise awareness.
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A day later, he couldn’t get out of bed or speak coherently, so his mother called 911 and he was rushed to the hospital.
It wasn’t until three days later that one of the many tests he was given came back for the amoeba.
There have been just 138 cases in the United States from 1962 to 2017, the CDC reports. All but five were fatal.
None of those cases was in New Jersey. Texas and Florida were the only states that had more than eight cases, with 35 each.
Naegleria fowleri usually infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose, according to the CDC. It typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places, like lakes and rivers. In very rare instances, infections may also occur from contaminated sources like inadequately chlorinated swimming pools or heated and contaminated tap water.
It can take two to 15 days for symptoms to appear.
The park voluntarily closed, and is continuing to comply with requests from the CDC and local health department, owner Stuart Parsons Jr. told the Waco Tribune-Herald.
“Our hearts and prayers are with his family, friends, and the New Jersey surf community during this difficult time,” Parsons said. “BSR Surf Resort operates a state-of-the-art artificial man-made wave. We are in compliance with the CDC guidelines and recommendations concerning Naegleria fowleri.”
Stabile was an avid outdoorsman, according to
his obituary.
“Fabrizio will be remembered as someone with a contagious smile, who could lift the spirits of anyone and everyone he talked to,” it read. “To know Fab was to love Fab.”
He worked for the state Department of Environmental Protection and Bass Pro Shops.
Stabile was the younger of Rita and Vincenzo Stabile’s two children. His sister recently made him an uncle to Vivienne, “whom he loved and held at every opportunity.”
