How A Tiny Amoeba Can Eat Your Brain

There’s a dangerous single celled amoeba lurking in lakes across the country that can literally eat your brain! And this year, there’s been an unusually high number of cases of people infected. Trace explains what’s going on, and how you can protect yourself from this hidden threat.

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Brain-Eating Amoeba

“It doesn’t happen often. But most summers, several Americans — usually healthy, young people — suffer sudden, tragic deaths from brain-eating amoeba.”

Florida boy continues to battle brain-eating amoeba

School begins Monday in this rural Florida town about 30 miles east of Fort Myers, but one seventh-grader won’t be in class.”

Naegleria fowleri – Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM)

“Naegleria is an ameba (single-celled living organism) commonly found in warm freshwater (for example, lakes, rivers, and hot springs) and soil. Only one species (type) of Naegleria infects people:Naegleria fowleri.”

Plague in the United States

“Plague was first introduced into the United States in 1900, by rat–infested steamships that had sailed from affected areas, mostly from Asia. Epidemics occurred in these port cities. The last urban plague epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles from 1924 through 1925.”

Brain-eating amoebas thrive in US lakes as global warming heats waterways

“It’s a fatal infection without an effective treatment, and one that strikes in a decidedly gruesome manner: An amoebic organism lurking in water is inadvertently inhaled during a swim on a hot summer’s day.”

Brain-Eating Amoeba: How One Girl Survived

“The 12-year-old Kali Hardig of Arkansas is now the third survivor of the rare but nearly always fatal infection caused by the brain-eating parasite Naegleria fowleri.”

Brain-Eating Amoeba Lurk in U.S. Lakes. But Should You Worry?

“Brain-eating amoeba, found in warm lakes, streams, and hot springs, are back.
Or more accurately, they never went away. Three people have died in recent weeks after attacks from a single-celled organism called Naegleria fowleri: A girl in Florida, a boy in Virginia and a 20-year-old man in Louisiana.”

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