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Old 08-15-2011, 08:08 AM
 
Location: Florida
407 posts, read 1,070,319 times
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On the subject of lakes, are they (in North Carolina) generally safe to swim in? Unfortunately, a 16 year girl here in Florida recently passed from swimming in the St Johns; they suspect amoeba. Any one know?
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Old 08-15-2011, 08:30 AM
 
Location: Winston-Salem
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Quote:
Originally Posted by touretteboy65 View Post
On the subject of lakes, are they (in North Carolina) generally safe to swim in? Unfortunately, a 16 year girl here in Florida recently passed from swimming in the St Johns; they suspect amoeba. Any one know?
That's a good question. It would depend on a few factors. What is the boat traffic? Is there any sewer spills? Are there snakefish in the lake? These can get you quicker than the amoeba.

As for the girl......
Within the next few days, federal health officials should reveal whether a deadly freshwater amoeba caused a Mims teenager's death.
What to do to prevent.....
"When the weather is warm, in every lake in every park, every river -- you will find the amoeba. You should not dive into the water, and you should not disturb the bottom of the lake. You should use earplugs and noseplugs,"
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Old 08-15-2011, 09:10 AM
 
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According to some family members of the girl I know who live here in the Triangle, the cause of death was indeed amoebic encephalitis.
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Old 08-15-2011, 10:24 AM
 
Location: Florida
407 posts, read 1,070,319 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Since72 View Post
That's a good question. It would depend on a few factors. What is the boat traffic? Is there any sewer spills? Are there snakefish in the lake? These can get you quicker than the amoeba.

As for the girl......
Within the next few days, federal health officials should reveal whether a deadly freshwater amoeba caused a Mims teenager's death.
What to do to prevent.....
"When the weather is warm, in every lake in every park, every river -- you will find the amoeba. You should not dive into the water, and you should not disturb the bottom of the lake. You should use earplugs and noseplugs,"
So, safe to say, precautions here in Florida are relatively the same in North Carolina when swimming in lakes, rivers, and ponds? I was hoping to hear that because the weather is generally cooler in NC than it is here in FL that you all don't have to deal with the amoeba issue(?).
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Old 08-15-2011, 11:23 AM
 
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Unless things are different we spent all summer in the lake swimming & skiing along with thousands of other people.
I wonder if its like the shark attacks...so rare that some people prefer to enjoy and not focus on that one in a million chance.
If you fly you could crash
If you drive you could crash
If you stay home your house could catch fire or a tornado could hit you.
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Old 08-15-2011, 12:44 PM
 
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Don't know about the other lakes around here, but it seems every summer various beaches at Falls Lake are closed at times because of bacteria. Falls Lake beach closed because of bacteria - Health/Science - NewsObserver.com
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Old 08-15-2011, 12:50 PM
 
Location: RTP area, NC
1,277 posts, read 3,535,495 times
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when we moved here aeons ago, a native told us

"Southerners do not swim in the dog days of august. not in lakes, streams, inlets or oceans. August is for sitting and drinking sweet tea under the gentle breeze of porch fans." or something to that effect.

when I asked around, I was told generally the water will be warmest in August b/c the days and nights are both warm so things just get warmer.

just the thought of stirring up amoebas or whatever gives me the heebie jeebies.

give me a chlorinated warm pool any day! or a crisp maine lake.
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Old 08-15-2011, 01:06 PM
 
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During the recent heat blast the surface temperature of Jordan Lake was about 90 degrees.
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Old 08-15-2011, 02:24 PM
 
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I used to run a camp just north of Atlanta. I swam in the lake every day during the summer for about 15 years. Still living and breathing. We had kids from 8-18 in the water every day for all of those 15 years and never had anyone get anything other than a bad case of swimmer's ear.
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Old 08-15-2011, 02:41 PM
 
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Think of one giant petri dish. It's warm, then it's scalding hot, the water is perpetually warm, there is rarely if ever a freeze to kill anything...makes for some scary soup. Bacteria levels in Jordan and Falls can be atrocious. The public gets probably every 10th warning in the news about the levels. HA what you don't know might hurt you.

Then there was the poor boy whose face was almost eaten off by chromobacterium violaceum a couple of years ago. I will admit that lake water horrifies me anyway but all the conditions are right for a lot of these types of situations.
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