Family members of a 12-year-old boy who was infected by a rare and deadly amoeba, and has been declared brain dead, said Sunday they are rallying around him as they hope for a last-minute miracle before taking him life support.
According to WTFX, Zachary Reyna has been kept on a ventilator so his organs can be donated - a decision made following Saturday's determination by doctors at Miami Children's Hospital that although the brain-eating amoeba had been vanquished, it had severely damaged the boy's brain, his parents said in a Facebook page, Pray4Number4, they created to give updates on their son's medical fight.
The boy's uncle, Homer Villarreal, told the Associated Press doctors told family members the boy's brain was not showing any activity.
Zachary Reyna has been kept on a ventilator so his organs can be donated - a decision made following Saturday's determination by doctors at Miami Children's Hospital that although the brain-eating amoeba had been vanquished, it had severely damaged the boy's brain, his parents said in a Facebook page, Pray4Number4, they created to give updates on their son's medical fight.
According to WBBH, Reyna became infected with the disease while kneeboarding with friends in a water-filled ditch by his house on August 3.
After news emerged regarding Zachary's diagnosis, the Florida Department of Health issued a warning to swimmers that high water temperatures and low water levels provide the perfect breeding ground for this rare amoeba.
Between 2001 and 2010, there were only 32 reported cases of people getting Naegleria fowleri in the United States, according to the CDC. Most of the cases have been in the Southeast.
"Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations," the agency website says. "After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within one to 12 days."
