Jordan Cole Smelski (2002-2014)
Jordan Smelski graduated 5th grade at Wilson Elementary
School in May of 2014. Jordan was active in sports including
soccer, football and baseball. Jordan excelled in academics,
enjoyed writing and had a passion for art. Outside of school
Jordan loved fishing, swimming, horseback riding and zip-lining,
but his greatest passion was video games. He loved to play
video games with his friends and family. Jordan is fondly
remembered by his many close friends and family as a
confident, determined, outgoing boy, who always wanted to
go first, made friends easily, was charismatic and was always
smiling.
For his 2014 summer vacation, Jordan wanted to return to
Costa Rica, after having visited in 2011. The family summer
vacation included horseback riding, zip lining down a volcano,
visiting an animal sanctuary, a butterfly laboratory, a frog
exhibit, an aviary with Toucans and Macaws and a
hummingbird garden. One of the extra activities included
swimming and going down a water slide into a hot spring fed
swimming pool. This was the only time we went swimming in Costa Rica.
We were unaware the hot spring water was not treated with chlorine before it was pumped into the pools
and water slide. Repeatedly going down the slide forced water into Jordan’s nose. Soon after returning
home to Orlando, Jordan developed severe headaches and a neck ache and was rushed to the emergency
room. Jordan was admitted later that day and passed away just three days later.
It was determined that Jordan had died of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) which is caused by
the Amoeba Naegleria fowleri. This single cell Amoeba is found world-wide in warm fresh water lakes, rivers,
ponds, canals, hot springs, under or un-chlorinated swimming pools and standing water. The CDC
recommends not submerging your head in any fresh water over 86 degrees. This heat loving Amoeba (86-121
degrees) is able to survive in soil, in water and in a human host. The amoeba enters the body through the
nose and makes its way to the brain by going up the olfactory nerve.
The press often refers to Naegleria fowleri in articles as the “brain-eating amoeba”. Symptoms of PAM
often appear within days and are very similar to Viral or Bacterial Meningitis. To be successful, treatment for
PAM must begin within 36 hours of the onset of symptoms, which can include headache, loss of smell, stiff
neck, vomiting, hallucinations, seizures and coma.
PAM is often referred to as “rare”, however 14 people died from the Amoeba Naegleria fowleri in 2014 in
Pakistan. The amoeba Naegleria fowleri was first discovered in 1965 in four deadly cases in Australia. But
the first confirmed case of PAM is from 1937, 28 years before the Amoeba had even been discovered! In
1968, while reviewing autopsy samples from a 1937 case from Virginia, a doctor confirmed PAM as the cause
of death in that case. Since 1937 there have been 135 confirmed cases of PAM in the United States, of which
36 confirmed cases were in Florida.
PAM is 100% preventable yet 99% fatal.
The Amoeba Naegleria fowleri can live in hot spring pools like this one
The Jordan Smelski Foundation For Amoeba Awareness The Jordan Smelski Foundation For Amoeba
Awareness; www.jordansmelskifoundation.org is spreading the word about the dangers of Naegleria
fowleri and Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM). We are working with All Children’s Hospital
Johns Hopkins Medicine in St. Petersburg, FL to change the outcomes for PAM cases. We are raising
funds for:
•
Research into methods for early diagnosis, creating new care pathways for best
treatment of possible PAM cases.
•
Research to identify the actual number of PAM cases each year.
•
Research to find a treatment that will stop the aggressive Naegleria fowleri
amoeba.