Brain Eating Amoeba (Naegleria fowleri)

Published 2019-06-28

Brain eating amoeba-Naegleria fowleri is a scary but interesting parasite.
What is this amoeba?
• Where do you think it was first discovered? Absolutely! Unsurprisingly, it was first discovered in Australia in 1965. But it’s believed to have evolved in the United States.
• Its scientific name is Naegleria Fowleri
• It loves warm water. It can survive in water as hot as 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
• It is found in warm places such as warm lakes, mud puddles, warm –slow flowing rivers, untreated swimming pools and even in soil.
• However it can’t live in salt water or in properly treated swimming pools.
• Naegleria floweri normally eats bacteria. But if it gets into humans through the nose, it uses the brain as a food source.
• Activities like diving, water sports, water skiing, in which water is forced in to the nose, increased the risk of infection.
• Fortunately it doesn’t transmit from an infected person to another person.
Now you might be thinking, how the hell this amoeba finds its way to the brain!
Well it is just smart, you know! It has a good understanding of the human anatomy!
Jokes aside, it is attracted by the chemicals secreted by the nerve cells of the olfactory nerve. It travels through the olfactory nerve and enters the frontal lobe of the brain.

Alright! If you have the “medial students” syndrome, you should be thinking “Oh no! I dived in the swimming pool, once, some time ago”. Relax! This condition is very rare, it occurs from 0 -8 times per year, almost always from July to September.
It takes two – 15 days for symptoms to appear after the amoeba enters the nose. Average time to death is 5.3 days from the onset of symptoms. Symptoms are fever, headache, stiff neck and sometimes seizures.
Unfortunately, there’s no good treatment option yet for the disease. Some drugs are able to kill the amoeba in test tubes. But even when treated with these drugs, only a very few patients survive.
How can you Protect yourself from Brain-Eating Amoeba?
• Avoid water sports in warm still water during the months from July to September.
• It's also a good idea to avoid stirring up mud while taking part in such activities.
• If you ever decide to cleanse your nostrils, be sure to use distilled water and not tap water.

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