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Health officials suspect 3-year-old died from rare parasite

The Associated Press
Saturday April 21, 2001

ROHNERT PARK — Aletha Willis was a typical 3-year-old. She loved the television show “Blue’s Clues” and being the center of attention. She played the tambourine and sang in church. She rarely got sick, other than two ear infections. 

But the little girl was stricken a month ago with an unusually bad case of the flu – or so her grandparents thought. She died last week. 

Experts now believe the girl died of meningoencephalitis, a disease that causes fatal swelling of the brain and spinal cord. 

How she got the disease is uncertain, although state Health Department officials say it’s likely her brain was attacked by a parasite, an amoeba called Balamuthia mandrillaris. 

“The antibody test was positive and some sort of parasite has been seen in the spinal fluid,” said Dr. Carol Glaser, a researcher for the state Health Department in Richmond. “Everything is leaning toward this, but until all the data is in, we have to be very careful.” 

Frank and Teresa Peters first took granddaughter Aletha to their family doctor with flu-like symptoms on March 22. Two days later, after her temperature reached 103 degrees, they took her to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. 

She was admitted and treated for dehydration. The next day, she had a seizure. Tests indicated meningitis and her treatment was adjusted. She started eating and she looked better. But, within a day, her condition deteriorated again. Doctors sedated her for more tests and she fell into a coma and suffered another seizure. 

Doctors did more tests and began treating Aletha for for tuberculosis and meningitis. She died April 11. 

“I still can’t believe she’s gone,” Frank Peters said Friday. He and his wife were raising Aletha for their daughter, who has been “in and out of trouble” and currently lives in Hayward. “If it’s so rare, how did she catch it?” 

Experts say only about 70 cases of Balamuthia infection have been reported worldwide. 

“It’s a great rarity,” said Dr. Allan Ropper, chief of neurology at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, who has studied the parasite. “This organism seems to be free-living in water and it may in fact be around us in many, many places. Why some people get it is unclear.” 

Scientists only identified the amoeba, which is found in soil and fresh and salt water throughout the world, about 10 years ago. It’s not only tough to identify, it’s also tough to treat. 

“Even when a diagnosis is made in life, which it rarely is, the treatment is relatively ineffective,” Ropper said. “My reading of the literature suggests there is no good treatment.” 

But the Peters family wants answers. 

“How could she have caught it?” Frank Peters said at the family’s small apartment in Rohnert Park, about 50 miles north of San Francisco. “Apparently it’s raised up its head. It fooled all the doctors. Now she’s gone and we’re hoping we can do something.” 

The couple wants the health department to test the potting soil Aletha pretended to plant flowers in, the duck pond at the park where she played, the sand at the playground – anything, anywhere to help keep other children safe. 

“If I would’ve known, I would’ve taken precautions,” said Teresa Peters, tears welling in her eyes. “It just doesn’t make sense.”