Wikipedia wrote:Naegleria fowleri( /nəˈɡlɪəriə/; also known as "the brain-eating amoeba") is a free-living excavate form of protist typically found in warm bodies of fresh water, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, and hot springs. It is also found in soil, near warm water discharges of industrial plants, and unchlorinated swimming pools in an amoeboid or temporary flagellate stage. There is no evidence of this organism living in ocean water. It belongs to a group called the Percolozoa or Heterolobosea. Although not a true amoeba, the organism is often referred to as an amoeba for convenience.
N. fowleri can invade and attack the human nervous system. Although this occurs rarely,[1] such an infection nearly always results in the death of the victim.[2] The mortality rate is estimated at 98%.[3]
It's killed three children this year
CNN
A 16-year-old died Saturday after becoming infected by an amoeba in Brevard County, Florida, according to CNN's affiliate WFTV. The amoeba could have entered the teen's body as the teen swam in a nearby river.
Her mother, P.J. Nash-Ryder, said her daughter complained of a headache, threw up 20 times and ran a fever as high as 104 degrees.
"She would sit up in bed and just look at me, and I would ask her what was wrong," Nash-Ryder said. "She would say, 'I don't know.' And I'd tell her to lay back down. Her eyes were rolling ... and she wouldn't shut them all the way."
A spinal tap showed that Naegleria fowleri was present in her spinal fluids.
In another case, the Virginia Department of Health confirmed Friday that a child from central Virginia died from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is caused by the amoeba. The Richmond Times Dispatch said the child was a 9-year-old boy from Henrico County.
The child died within the last few weeks, said Dr. Keri Hall, the state's director of epidemiology. She declined to share other details. Virginia's last confirmed case was in 1969.
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The amoeba is not a parasite. A human is an "accidental end point for the amoeba after it's forced up the nose," Yoder said. It does not seek human hosts.
But when an amoeba gets lodged into a person's nose, it starts looking for food. It ends up in the brain and starts eating neurons.
"It causes a great deal of trauma and a great deal of damage," Yoder said. "It's a tragic infection. It's right at the frontal lobe. It affects behavior and the core of who they are -- their emotions, their ability to reason -- it's very difficult."
Early symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and neck stiffness. Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations.
The amoeba multiplies, and the body mounts a defense against the infection. This, combined with the rapidly increasing amoebas, cause the brain to swell, creating immense pressure. At some point, the brain stops working.
Death typically occurs three to seven days after the symptoms start.
