Las Vegas teen dies from brain-eating amoeba as experts warn against panic

Investigators believe teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead but epidemiologist says disease is very, very rare'

Experts have said that the death of a teenager in the Las Vegas area from a rare brain-eating amoeba should prompt caution, not panic, among people at freshwater lakes, rivers and springs.

It gets people's attention because of the name," Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist, said on Friday of the naturally occurring organism officially called Naegleria fowleri but almost always dubbed the brain-eating amoeba. But it is a very, very rare disease."