There is a Linderism about this but I cannot find it right now.

By SARAH BURGE
The Press-Enterprise Since Murrieta Fire Capt. Matt Moore fell ill in November, he has been in and out of four hospitals, all the while growing sicker from a mysterious illness that doctors were at a loss to identify. Now he is on life-support in a critical-care unit in San Diego.
Late last month, his family and friends finally got some answers. But the news was not good. Moore, 43, who is married and has three teenage children, is suffering from a rare and usually fatal parasitic meningoencephalitis caused by a brain-eating amoeba found in soil.
"This has been a total nightmare," said his wife, Sherry Moore, 42. "He's very, very sick, and the prognosis just doesn't look good. At this point, we're all praying for a miracle. Our faith is what's getting us through."

About 150 cases of this disease -- all but a handful fatal - have been reported worldwide since scientists discovered in the early 1990s that the amoeba Balamuthia mandrillaris can infect humans. Scientists had considered the amoeba harmless to mammals until it was found in 1986 in a mandrill -- an animal similar to a baboon -- that had died at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
Dr. Fred Schuster, a researcher with the state Department of Public Health in Richmond, said there likely are many more undiagnosed human cases of Balamuthia mandrillaris infection. Doctors often do not recognize the symptoms. And when a doctor is familiar with the disease, the amoeba is difficult to detect.
In Matt Moore's case, it took a brain biopsy to pinpoint the parasite. Frequently, the infection is not discovered until the person has died, if then.
It appears that the amoeba infects humans by entering through a wound or by being inhaled after it has become airborne.
Among those infected, Schuster said, "the common denominator is some contact with soil." In one case, researchers discovered the amoeba in soil in a flowerpot in an infected child's home. Others reported falling ill after gardening and digging in a compost pile. One man appears to have contracted the infection through a wound from a rosebush thorn.
But it is difficult to explain, Schuster said, the fact that "millions of people are in contact with soil, and very, very few develop this infection." Researchers suspect that many people are exposed, but infection develops, by and large, in those with some immune deficiency. Perhaps, Schuster said, that deficiency might be very subtle, almost undetectable.
A disproportionate number of the infections have been found in Latinos, but it is unknown whether genetics, environment or some other factors are to blame. Infections also appear more common in warmer climates such as Southern California.
It stands to reason, Schuster said, that firefighters might have a higher chance of exposure being around so many airborne particles on the job. "But it's just a wild guess," he said.
Unlike Naegleria fowleri, a parasitic amoeba known to infect humans that is found in lakes and other warm fresh water, Balamuthia mandrillaris may be nearly impossible to avoid, Schuster said. People can avoid swimming in Naegleria fowleri-friendly water, he said, but it is hard to steer clear of dirt and windblown dust.
As a public health threat, Schuster said, "it's nothing to get panicked about because your chances of acquiring this disease are infinitesimal." But because of the high mortality rate among those unlucky enough to contract the disease, not to mention the fact that it often infects children, "it is a little frightening," he said.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/murrieta/stories/PE_News_Local_C_rare21.4385bfd.html?np