Florida boy, 14, left paralyzed after catching brain-eating amoeba

A teen in Florida has cheated death after catching a brain infection that has a 97 percent death rate.

Fourteen-year-old Caleb Ziegelbaur spent nearly a year in hospital fighting a brain-eating amoeba after contracting it while swimming at Port Charlotte beach last July.

Doctors believe he was infected by Naegleria fowleri, which is fatal in 97 percent of cases. 

Only four people out of 154 who got the microscopic bug in the US between 1962 and 2021 survived. Doctors believe it entered Caleb’s nose and infected his brain.

Caleb is now walking somewhat but the damage done to his brain means he needs to communicate with facial expressions and has to use a wheelchair. 

Caleb, pictured here with his mom Jesse, is now walking somewhat but the damage done to his brain means he needs to communicate with facial expressions and has to use a wheelchair

He contracted the illness after he went swimming with his family at Port Charlotte Beach on July 1, 2022

Caleb had been swimming with his family at Port Charlotte Beach on July 1, 2022.

The public beach sits on an estuary, where the freshwater from the Peace River meets the saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico.

Just six days later, Caleb began to have headaches and a fever before he was struck down with a fever and complained of hallucinations. 

On July 9, he was rushed to the hospital and his mom Jesse told NBC that even in the one-hour car ride his condition ‘deteriorated rapidly’.

He was in a coma at Golisano Children’s Hospital, with doctors monitoring him around the clock. 

Doctors told his mother he only had four days left to live. For eight months, he battled the amoeba while barely conscious.

Speaking to NBC, Jesse said: ‘[The doctor] just came in and told us, you have four days with your son.

‘We were visiting and he [Caleb] said ‘I just want to tell you, this is the longest four days of my life’.

‘He did tell me he heard me talking to him, saying Caleb if you can hear me come back. I’ve promised as soon as he runs we want to do the 5K at Disney.

Precious time was wasted after doctors misdiagnosed him with meningitis, delaying the treatment for the amoeba, which must be treated soon after infection for it to be successful, according to his aunt, Katie Chiet, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

He returned from intensive rehab in March, meaning he can now stand, laugh and communicate, though his speech is impaired.

Caleb is pictured here prior to be infected by the brain-eating amoeba which Doctors say should have taken his life after just a few days 

Caleb returned from intensive rehab in March, meaning he can now stand, laugh and communicate, though his speech is impaired

Port Charlotte Beach sits where the freshwater Pearl River and the saltwater of the Gulf of Mexico meet. Naegleria fowleri can thrive there

An amoeba is a tiny, single-celled animal that can be found in warm freshwater such as lakes and rivers.

Generally, the amoeba enters through the nose and travels through the sinuses to the brain, where it triggers primary amebic meningoencephalitis – a rare and usually fatal brain infection.

It spreads up nerves to the brain, where it multiplies and destroys tissue.

In the early stages, patients initially experience headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, but days and weeks later they can also face hallucinations and seizures.

Caleb’s doctor said she was ‘never happier to be wrong’ about his survival chances, his mother recalled.

Generally, the amoeba enters through the nose and travels through the sinuses to the brain, where it triggers primary amebic meningoencephalitis – a rare and usually fatal brain infection.

It spreads up nerves to the brain, where it multiplies and destroys tissue.

In the early stages, patients initially experience headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, but days and weeks later they can also face hallucinations and seizures.

A 2018 study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment found that Naegeleria fowleri can survive in the brackish water of Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain, an estuary like the Port Charlotte beach area.

His family recently handed out boxes of nose plugs at the Freedom Swim across Charlotte Harbor on Tuesday. 

Jesse has also argued that the fatality rate is even higher than 97 due to issues with the reporting process, and said the true death rate is almost 99 percent. 

Caleb has dreams of becoming an epidemiologist. 

He said: ‘I was going to find the cure for Covid but now I am going to find the vaccine for Naegleria fowleri.’