Health officials say amoeba did not kill Minnesota youth

He became ill after swimming in Lake Minnewaska in western Minnesota.

Fourteen-year-old Hunter Boutain, of Alexandria, died of a brain infection July 9.

A 14-year-old boy who died after swimming in Lake Minnewaska didn’t die from a brain-eating amoeba as initially suspected, according to a new report from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Boutain died a few days later.

As a “standard confirmation step”, the health department said, the CDC then did its own testing – the results did not support the initial finding, and instead pointed to streptococcus meningoencephalitis.

The beaches on Lake Minnewaska were closed immediately following the teen’s death while water tests were performed, but the Department of Health allowed them to reopen one day later.

The CDC notes signs and symptoms of PAM are similar to bacterial meningitis. State and national health officials scrambled to determine whether the state was becoming a more hospitable place for the deadly water amoeba that typically poses a greater risk to swimmers in southern states. “The results also do not change the fact that there is always a very low-level risk of infection with Naegleria fowleri when swimming in fresh water”. There have been only two cases of confirmed deaths from the organism in Minnesota – both in Stillwater’s Lily Lake – in 2010 and 2012.