Student dies after contracting brain-eating amoeba on vacation

CUNY Brooklyn College student, Kerry A. Stoutenburgh died from a rare infection caused by an amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri, according to Ulster County health commissioner Dr. Carol Smith.

Kerry, a student of CUNY Brooklyn College, would have celebrated her 20th birthday on October 25. The 19-year-old girl’s fate changed in what may have been a blink of the eye, as she contracted the deadly amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) while swimming in the Octoraro Creek and North East Creek on August 20, per The Daily Mail.

Kerry Stoutenburgh, 19, died from a brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, she contracted while swimming in a creek during a family vacation in Maryland.

Stoutenburgh is survived by her sister, Katie, mother, Wendy, father, Donald, boyfriend, Luke Carquillat and his family.

You’ve probably heard of the parasite that killed her: Naegleria fowleri. She died August 31.

A brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria fowleri was responsible for killing 19-year-old Kerry Stoutenburgh earlier this August, seen above. It then travels to the brain and the infarction is usually fatal. “It really progresses to fatality quite quickly”.

Stoutenburgh’s family says she started complaining of a headache and sensitivity to light a few days after she returned home to upstate NY. The mortality rate for primary amebic meningoencephalitis is more than 97 percent, but Smith acknowledged that there is an experimental drug to treat the infection-however Smith emphasized that the drug, which is not yet readily available at most hospitals, isn’t guaranteed to work and may not have gotten to Stoutenburgh in time. “Infection is rare and typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places, like lakes and rivers”.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Stoutenburgh family.