Lake Of The Ozarks Will Not Eat Your Brain

Mainstream media headlines might make you believe watersports at Lake of the Ozarks will eat your brain. If you buy into it, your brain has already flatlined.

We are referring to a rare, tragic case of one amoeba exposure (Naegleria fowleri) that might have happened at the Lake, though the source evidence is anecdotal. 

We pray for the family after the victim's passing on Tuesday, Aug. 19. The Missouri Department of Health confirmed their death at a St. Louis-area hospital. 

As for the source of the case, the amoeba lives in all fresh water over 80F all over the world — lakes, rivers, ponds, tap water, poorly maintained pools, puddles, whatever.

We’re sure the Missouri Department of Health felt the probability was reasonable enough to connect it to our Lake. After all, the victim was water-skiing here days before they fell ill, and apparently one is more likely impacted by the amoeba exposure when water is forced up the nostrils (it is not possible through oral consumption).

There will never be 100% accuracy on the location of exposure, but we are 100% sure the mainstream media loved having both “Brain-Eating” and “Lake of the Ozarks” in the same headline.

It's the only time they’d pen a headline like it before the zombie apocalypse. 

It has all the makings of a click-factory. Shock. Rarity. Doom. All at the #1 most popular recreational Lake in the country, which has turned into the epicenter for lakefront vacationing, drawing with it movie and TV producers, large-scale development and more boaters from near and far, all figuring out what’s so special about this place.

But sometimes, (just sometimes, right?), mainstream media gives journalism a bad name.

Sometimes people read a headline and scroll straight to the comments for fact-free opinions and mob truth.

Last week, a LakeExpo reader was in our office, two days after the first brain-eating headlines. This person said they did not want to get in the water during their upcoming excursion on the Lake. No coving out, no watersports. We did not venture to ask about a good ol’ fashion fish fry. In a mild twist of irony, they’ll probably end up at one of the Lake’s many pool bars.

Their takeaway from the news coverage or social media was, “Dude got a brain-eating amoeba from swimming in Lake of the Ozarks. Swim in that lake right now and you’re probably gonna die.”

Absurd, of course. 

We’re not sure of the widespread nature of this belief. But for them it was swift, dramatic and personal.

The reality is there have been 167 cases in the United States between 1987 and 2024 — two in Missouri in 1987 and 2022. Nationwide, there’s been a handful of instances over the last couple years and billions of fresh-water exposures.

We do know thousands of small business owners depend on the allure of the Lake to keep their families fed.

For their sakes, we hope the brain-eating news cycle is short.

This story was updated around 5 p.m., Aug. 20, for new information.