Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.

On 5 December 2018, the Seattle Times published an article whose terrifying headline ensured its own virality: “Rare brain-eating amoebas killed Seattle woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water. Doctor warns this could happen again.” Sadly for those who visited this page hoping to find that the reporting was exaggerated or made-up, this really happened. Though her anonymity was maintained, the story of a 69-year-old Seattle woman who used tap water in her Neti pot for over a year and then died from a Balamuthia mandrillaris brain infection was documented in a 20 September 2018 case study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases: We report the case of a 69-year-old female who presented with a chronic nasal skin rash, new onset focal seizure, and a cerebral ring-enhancing lesion after a year of improper nasal irrigation. Despite aggressive and novel anti-amoebic treatment, she died as a result of a Balamuthia mandrillaris brain infection. One year before developing the brain infection, the authors reported, the woman developed a chronic sinus infection whose symptoms were not relieved by medication. She turned to using a Neti pot to rinse her sinuses, but instead of using sterile or saline water as directed, she used tap water filtered with a Brita system. After a month of this practice, and without any relief of her sinus symptoms, “she developed a quarter-sized, red raised rash on the right side of the bridge of her nose and raw red skin at the nasal opening.” Though several misdiagnoses followed, no doctor correctly recognized the rash as a symptom of an amoebic infection. The report stated that a year after that initial rash developed, the woman developed a seizure that required hospitalization. At that time, the doctors identified a lesion on the right side of the brain which they decided to biopsy. Some 19 days later, after a continued decline in the patient’s health, scientists from Johns Hopkins University suggested the possibility that the cause of her malady was an amoebic infection, and the Centers for Disease Control rushed a novel drug for her treatment. Unfortunately, they were unable to halt the progression of the disease, and the patient’s family made the decision to remove her from life support. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be Granulomatous Amebic Encephalitis (GAE), which the CDC defines as “a serious infection of the brain and spinal cord that typically occurs in persons with a compromised immune system.” In this case, the causative agent was an extremely rare amoeba named Balamuthia mandrillaris, one of three forms of amoeba known to be capable of infecting and consuming the human brain. Amoebas are a broad group of taxonomically mixed unicellular organisms that consume surrounding cellular material through absorption, and that express an ability to take on a variety of shapes. Several different species are associated with disease, most notably Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as the “brain-eating amoeba” that can cause a different kind of brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Balamuthia mandrillaris was discovered in 1986 in the brain of a mandrill monkey during an autopsy at the San Diego Zoo and is now recognized to be a cause of GAE in both humans, several primates, and other animals, with an estimated 200 cases of human infection ever documented. The amoebae are ubiquitous in soil and groundwater although their presence is not expected in city-treated water, according to Liz Coleman, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Public Health division of Washington State’s Department of Health, quoted in the Seattle Times’ reporting. Merely ingesting the thing will not lead to health problems, but in rare cases (usually instances involving people with weakened immune systems, or those who are young or old), the organisms can infect a host through skin breakage or via the respiratory system. If they infect the central nervous system, they “ingest bits and pieces of host tissue [and produce] enzymes that degrade the tissue.” Nasal irrigation involves rinsing one’s sinus cavity with distilled or sterile water (or water that has been filtered to remove potentially infectious organisms), and one such method of water delivery is a Neti pot. The need for sterility is explicitly stated due to the (extremely small) risk posed by another amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, and it is the reason the FDA requires (in the absence of sterile water) a specific kind of filter capable of removing the amoeba and similarly-sized organisms from water before it is pushed through fragile sinus tissue. While the authors of this case report could not state with absolute certainty that the Neti pot was to blame, it is far and away the most likely explanation given the fact that the patient had been rinsing her sinuses with tap water regularly for an extended period of time: While it is recommended that only sterile water or saline be used … the patient used tap water that was filtered with a Brita Water Purifier … Improper nasal irrigation has been reported as a method of infection for the comparably insidious amoeba, N. fowleri. This precedent led us to suspect the same route of entry for the Balamuthia amoeba in our case. Although this hypothesis is consistent with the patient’s history and ultimate diagnosis, the water supply to the patient’s home was not tested, hence our ability to definitively trace the patient’s infection to improper nasal lavage is limited. Other routes of exposure are possible, according to a 2013 review of amoebic infections: Epidemiology of Balamuthia GAE is not well understood. However, based on several case reports it can be hypothesized that gardening, playing with dirt, or exposure to dust while motorcycling may play significant roles in the acquisition of Balamuthia infection. It has been shown that Balamuthia is found in the soil and dust in air and the route of infection is probably via inhalation of Balamuthia either present in soil or carried by the wind or the amebae entering the body through a cut or puncture. Once it gains entry into the body it is likely to spread hematogenously to the brain. Additionally, there is some indication that water may serve as a vehicle for acquiring the infection. Although the water used in the Neti pot likely caused this infection, Dr. Cynthia Maree, a co-author of the report and a member of the team that treated the woman in question, told the Seattle Times that “the risk of infection to the brain is extremely low,” adding that “people who use neti pots or other nasal-irrigation devices can nearly eliminate [that risk] by following directions printed on the devices, including using only saline or sterilized water.”
A woman who rinsed her nasal passages using a neti pot filled with tap water contracted a fatal “brain-eating” amoeba infection.

Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis of the international research group HarvestPlus were honored in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department. Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, called their work “a breakthrough achievement in developing and implementing biofortification.”  He defined biofortification as “the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops, thereby dramatically reducing hidden hunger and improving health for millions and millions of people.”  The honorees’ work has focused on the orange-fleshed sweet potato, an important source of vitamin A, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Vitamin A deficiency, especially there and in Asia, is a cause of blindness and premature death, according to the International Potato Center, an agriculture research center based in Lima, Peru. “The impact of the work of all four winners will be felt around the globe but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Gayle Smith, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The prize is awarded annually by the World Food Prize Foundation for food and agriculture innovation. The scientists will share the $250,000 prize equally and it will be awarded at a ceremony during World Food Prize week in Des Moines, Iowa, in October, when the prize will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Past recipients include John Kufuour, a former president of Ghana; former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern; and Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh.
Sweet potato experts win World Food Prize.

No longer. More than half of the cane in Brazil’s main sugar-producing area of Sao Paulo state was harvested using machines during the 2009/10 season, a historic first that portends greater efficiency in coming years. The shift is occurring so quickly that some producers face a four-month waiting list to get the right equipment. The transition, driven by both increased competition and tougher Brazilian environmental laws, has been a boon for multinational equipment manufacturers supplying the world’s leading producer of sugar and the second largest ethanol producer after the United States. “Brazil’s market is hot,” said Jose Emilio dos Santos, manager of Tratorag Comercio e Representacao, a John Deere dealer based in Piracicaba, the heart of the center-south’s cane growing region in Sao Paulo state. “Many producers are looking to buy a new machine harvester.”   Last year, Cosan, the world’s largest sugar and ethanol producer, spent 30.5 million reais ($17.3 million) on mechanization and expects to train between 180 and 200 harvester operators per year for the next four years, said Luis Carlos Veguin, the company’s human resources director. Adoption of the technology by big firms has forced many smaller producers to follow suit. In the first six months of 2010, 3,186 harvesters of all types were sold in Brazil, up from 478 in the same period of 2006, according to figures from Anfavea, the vehicle manufacturer’s association. It’s not just companies that are benefiting from the switch. Izaura Freitas Souza, 39, has wielded a machete in the sugar cane harvest since she was a 15 year old and once almost sliced off her big toe in the fields. Today, Souza drives a harvester for Cosan in Piracicaba and says she has tripled her earnings to 1,800 reais a month, which allows her to save to buy a house. “It is clean work now,” she said, “without the physical wear and tear.”   Initial investment in a harvester is expensive but over time is a cheaper alternative to manual labor because wages have been rising in tandem with Brazil’s economy, Veguin said. A new cane harvester from John Deere costs an average 880,000 reais, said dos Santos, the tractor dealer. The company’s main competitor in Brazil is Case IH, a subsidiary of CNH Global. For smaller sugar cane producers who are unable to afford the initial investment, the situation can be dire. Unable to compete with the efficiency of the bigger players, some have been forced to enter into partnerships with Cosan or Bunge, or logistics companies, like Julio Simoes. “Banks request guarantees and the cost of a harvester is quite high,” dos Santos said. “Not all producers can provide sufficient collateral.”   Mechanization is given urgency by environmental laws, which will effectively phase out manual cane cutting in Sao Paulo state by 2017. Before manual harvesting begins, workers set fields alight to clear the undergrowth and flush out snakes and insects. Reducing burning is a priority for producers because the method is a blot on otherwise impressive environmental credentials — Brazilian ethanol from cane is about six times more energy efficient than its U.S. corn-derived counterpart — and they have introduced more stringent schedules. “We have a 100 percent target for the elimination of burning (in areas suitable for mechanization in Sao Paulo state) for 2014,” said Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, a director at Unica, the cane industry association. Cane producers fear that environmental reasons might be used as de facto trade barriers to prevent the entry of Brazilian sugar and ethanol into less competitive domestic markets in Europe and North America. This will be important as Brazil seeks to expand in overseas markets. The country’s 2010/11 sugar cane crop will be the ninth record in a row, up 10 percent from the prior year, according to the government’s supply agency, Conab. But the worst hit by mechanization are the cane cutters, many of whom risk losing their jobs if they can’t retrain. A harvester replaces about 100 cane cutters a day, according to Unica, and creates 30 jobs by way of operators and maintenance teams. An operator trainee must be literate and hold a driving license, which excludes many cutters. Although government and producers have stressed retraining, figures from Unica show there were 140,000 manual cane cutters in Sao Paulo state in 2010, down from 190,000 in 2006. Even Souza, the harvester operator, misses the company in the fields. “During the breaks everyone would joke around,” she said. “In the harvester I can only laugh at the memories.”   (Editing by Brian Winter and Kieran Murray)

From machete to machine in Brazil's cane fields.