Experts have said that the death of a teenager in the Las Vegas area from a rare brain-eating amoeba should prompt caution, not panic, among people at freshwater lakes, rivers and springs.

“It gets people’s attention because of the name,” Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist, said on Friday of the naturally occurring organism officially called Naegleria fowleri but almost always dubbed the brain-eating amoeba.

“But it is a very, very rare disease.” Investigators believe the teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead.

“But it is a very, very rare disease.” Investigators believe the teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead.

The southern Nevada health district did not identify the teen who died but said he might have been exposed to the microscopic organism during the weekend of 30 September in the Kingman Wash area,

The district publicized the case on Wednesday, following confirmation of the cause from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC has tallied just 154 cases of infection and death from the amoeba in the US since 1962, said Labus, who teaches at the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Almost half those cases were in Texas and Florida. Only one was reported in Nevada before this week.

Almost half those cases were in Texas and Florida. Only one was reported in Nevada before this week.

“I wouldn’t say there’s an alarm to sound for this,” Labus said. “People need to be smart about it when they’re in places where this rare amoeba actually lives.”