Autopsy shows no trace of deadly amoeba in Lake Elsinore woman
By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer | ∞
LAKE ELSINORE -- No evidence of a deadly amoeba was found in a Lake Elsinore woman who died suddenly in June 2006, authorities say.
The family of Nicole Hedberg recently began to suspect that the so-called brain-eating amoeba could have killed her as they continue to question how a seemingly healthy 25-year-old woman would collapse and then die just days later.
According to a Riverside County sheriff-coroner's autopsy certified Sept. 13, 2006, Hedberg died of acute liver failure caused by chronic acetaminophen toxicity, Deputy Herlinda Valenzuela, a department spokeswoman, said Friday.
But Hedberg's family questioned that as her cause of death after hearing about the amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, which enters through the nose and attacks the brain and has been cited as the killer of six people across the country this year.
Hedberg and her fiance had recently moved to Lake Elsinore from Redondo Beach and would sometimes swim or ride watercraft in the lake.
"We have no clue why a healthy 25-year-old woman would just up and die three months after moving there," Hedberg's sister, Dawn Loew, said by telephone Friday.
"The hospital never said anything about liver failure other than her organs were shutting down one by one because of brain swelling," Loew said.
Hedberg's brain swelling collapsed her brain stem, Loew said the family was told by doctors.
Doctors were unable to do a spinal tap, because of her weakened condition, a test that might have identified bacterial meningitis.
Hedberg died 10 days after she collapsed.
After learning of the amoeba, which lives naturally in organic sediment in warm lake water but can be deadly when inhaled, Loew said the family realized Hedberg had displayed the same symptoms before her death as those linked to the amoeba deaths. Those symptoms include a fever, headaches and a stiff neck.
The coroner's office did further tissue sampling but notified Loew on Wednesday that no sign of the amoeba was found, she said.
However, the coroner's office has agreed to send tissue samples to the California Department of Public Health to conduct more thorough testing.
Valenzuela said Friday that the samples have been delivered to the state agency. A spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health said she could not confirm they had arrived.
"We will check for the amoeba," spokeswoman Lea Brooks said.
"If we can be provided with tissue samples, we will be happy to test them," she said.
The state testing will be done at the viral and rickettsial disease laboratory in Richmond by the California Encephalitis Project in collaboration with the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Brooks said.
Brooks said that, out of more than 3,500 cases referred to that project, none had the laboratory data consistent with the deadly amoeba.
According to the CDC, the amoeba killed 23 people in the U.S. from 1995 to 2004.
Loew said she doesn't want to comment further about the possibility the amoeba killed her sister until she hears the results from the state tests.
"There are still so many questions surrounding this whole thing and that's unfortunate," Loew said.
She said the family wonders why an independent review of the coroner's autopsy results by medical experts through the family's own law firm also questions the finding of liver failure.
There is also a question, Loew said, as to why the family is now hearing that Hedberg suffered from sepsis, a life-threatening illness that typically results from the body's immune system's attack on a bacterial infection.
"Every day, we're being told something new," Loew said, adding they were never before told about sepsis.
"It's all very frustrating," she said.
Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.
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GURU53 wrote on Oct 13, 2007 9:18 AM:WHAT DO THEY MEAN "ACETAMINOPHEN TOXICITY?" KIND OF YOUNG FOR THAT?
resident wrote on Oct 13, 2007 11:29 AM: guru53 What ?? Are you a doctor???
Starrice wrote on Oct 13, 2007 12:40 PM:Now for all that bad publicity and negative reports in the paper a few weeks ago, the public needs to apologize for not having and knowing the true facts and being and making stupid remarks. The lake is just fine. Don't like.it? .. Stay out.. More for the rest of us who enjoy it! Just one less ediot on the lake!
GURU53 wrote on Oct 13, 2007 3:58 PM:No resident I'm not a doctor. How does a 25-year-old die of too much Tylenol with brain swelling?
TO ALL wrote on Oct 13, 2007 5:07 PM:Please ask a physician. These "speculations/comments" can only serve to upset the family. My deepest condolences to the family in their loss. As time goes on, I pray that you draw strength from God & the good times that you shared with your loved one. With sympathy.
guru53 wrote on Oct 13, 2007 5:57 PM:TO ALL: You're right. My condolences to the family. I am trying to figure what happened, as it seems pretty frightening.
Karen wrote on Oct 13, 2007 9:23 PM:I am assuming ACETAMINOPHEN TOXICITY is referring to someone taking too much ACETAMINOPHEN, such as Tylenol, but I am not naming Tylenol, as there are store brands of ACETAMINOPHEN also. Very sad for the family. My sympathy to all of you.
lin wrote on Oct 17, 2007 9:12 AM:The base of her brain where temperature control takes place was damaged from swelling and infection. Tylenol was given to control temp and most likley it didn't work and as sick as she was it built up in the system. Tylenol toxicity was a consequence of her treatment ofcourse toxic levels would show up in her liver. As the doctor confirmed swelling in her brain stem caused her demise.
kathy wrote on Oct 17, 2007 9:25 AM:Sepsis and septicemia are two different conditions. Sepsis can be caused by viral, protozoan, as well as bacterial infections. Sepsis causes a systemic inflammatory response in the body in response to the body attempting to fight a serious pathogen. It can cause organ failure. Septicemia is in the blood and can cause the body to excrete a toxin which can kill you and cause a condition called DIC death will follow. It can also lead to organ failure. You can start off with one pathogen and in a weakened state end up with other pathogens. With a pathogen in the brain stem your body is wide open for secondary infections.
sue wrote on Oct 17, 2007 8:08 PM: Any infection in your brain stem is going to interfere with bodily funtions. Its rare for an infection to start there and the pathogens that do are limited and kill quickly. Thats why it is wise to suspect nigleria fowleri. Think about it if several pathogens were able to kill that quickly, nicoles death would not be rare. She swam all summer in the lake. Hopefully the city will consider this and put up signs. Remember on arrival she was soon intubated and then comatose.
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