The hike is long and dusty, across two miles of shrub-strewn desert, south of Apple Valley.
But Lisa Fernandez, a Web designer and hot springs enthusiast, has often made the trek from the trail head to the pools of steaming water. She believes the payoff is worth it: a day of soaking in undeveloped, natural hot springs in the shade of pine and willow trees at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 40 words Type of Material: Correction
Hot springs illness: In Monday's Health section, an article on the risks of an infection from soaking in freshwater lakes and hot springs misspelled the name of the amoeba that causes the illness as Naegleria flowleri. It is Naegleria fowleri.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, January 05, 2009 Home Edition Health Part F Page 7 Features Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Hot springs illness: A Dec. 29 article on the risks of an infection from soaking in freshwater lakes and hot springs misspelled the name of the amoeba that causes the illness as Naegleria flowleri. It is Naegleria fowleri.
The naturally heated water at the Deep Creek Hot Springs increases her heart rate, soothes her tense muscles and, she says, detoxifies her skin. "I just love it," she said.
But just as nature lovers swarm to Deep Creek and other rustic hot-water oases to stave off the chills of winter, a spate of tainted-water fatalities and related studies have raised questions about the health risks of soaking in hot springs.
In April, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assigned a team of scientists and physicians to study a recent spike in deaths caused by Naegleria flowleri, an amoeba found naturally in bodies of warm fresh water, such as lakes and hot springs. The group was formed in response to six deaths in 2007 in Arizona, Florida and Texas, all attributed to the amoeba, which typically enters the body through the nasal passages and then attacks brain tissue.
Infections are almost always fatal. Between 1998 and 2007, the U.S. recorded 33 cases; all but one was fatal, according to the CDC. The six deaths in 2007 represented the sixth-highest annual number of cases in the last 70 years.
Locally, anxiety over the infection grew when Naegleria fowleri claimed another victim this summer, a 9-year-old boy, who officials believe contracted the amoeba while swimming in Lake Elsinore in Riverside County.
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An '07 spike in cases
The recent CDC research could not explain what caused the spike in Naegleria flowleri cases in 2007. And the group warned that, although the number of infections has been relatively low compared with the millions of swimmers who enter warm freshwater pools each year, scientists still don't know why certain people get infected and what concentration of amoeba in the water poses a significant risk. The CDC group recommended public health agencies disseminate more information on the infection to potential swimmers.
In a separate study conducted in 2003 by Montana State University, researchers tested the waters at 23 hot springs in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and found Naegleria flowleri and other amoebas present in the hot-water pools.
