Firefighter dies of rare disease

A veteran Murrieta firefighter has died after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that usually lives in soil, the city Fire Department said in a statement Tuesday.

Capt. Matt Moore died Monday at UC San Diego Medical Center Hillcrest from complications of meningoencephalitis. The 43-year-old father of three had been in a coma.

Moore fell ill in November. A biopsy showed in January that his brain had been invaded by the parasite Balamuthia mandrillaris. The disease was first identified in 1990 after a mandrill baboon at the San Diego Wild Animal park was infected.

Doctors aren’t sure how the parasite infects humans, but an infectious-disease expert said it appeared that only people with weakened immune systems are at risk.

“When you think about the number of people who are exposed to dirt, it’s very, very rare,” said Sharon Reed, a professor of pathology at UC San Diego. More than 100 cases have been reported. A 2004 study by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta showed the amoeba is particularly prevalent in California, where at least 11 cases have been reported. All but two cases have been fatal, Reed said.

The parasite can remain dormant for an unknown period, Reed said. The amoeba typically cluster around blood vessels in the brain and destroy surrounding cells.