[conchxpress]

When I was checking out the cable about two months ago, the "pond" where the cable was being set up looked pretty nasty. Then I recalled a post, I think by RickI, about wakeboarders developing amoebic menigitis, from riding in stagnant freshwater lakes and ponds. Symptoms are headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, leading to convulsions and ultimately death. The death part can be prevented if caught early enough, but the incubation/innoculation period is so fast that by the time the victim realizes that he's got more than a bad headache and some nausea attributed to the night before, his chances are markedly reduced. The infecting agent is an amoeba (remember high school biology?) and it lives in the waste matter at the bottom of stagnant fresh water lakes. The free swimming form enters the brain from the nose and sinuses and sets up shop. I guess not a problem if you don't fall a lot and get water up your nose. The disease is rare, but still exists. Mortality is over 50%.