Brain-eating amoeba found in popular Grand Teton soak spot

A parasitic amoeba that causes deadly brain infections has turned up in a warm spring in Grand Teton National Park, prompting a warning for those seeking a soak.

The microscopic Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER’-ee-uh FOW’-lur-ee) amoeba typically occurs in the Southern U.S., not the Rocky Mountain West.

Even so, Grand Teton officials announced Monday tests confirm the amoeba in Kelly Warm Spring, a popular soaking hole in the park.

Tests also found the amoeba in two hot springs in the nearby John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway. Soaking in those springs is prohibited but Grand Teton spokeswoman Denise Germann (ger-MANN’) says people sometimes sneak in.

She urges people in Kelly Warm Spring to avoid getting water up the nose.

The so-called “brain-eating” amoeba killed an 11-year-old girl in South Carolina on Friday.