Naegleria fowleri or “brain-eating amoeba”

• A 15-year-old boy in Kerala’s Alappuzha district died recently due to a rare infection caused by Naegleria fowleri or “brain-eating amoeba”.

ABOUT NAEGLERIA FOWLERI

• Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as “brain-eating amoeba,” is a single-cell organism found in a warm freshwater environment such as lakes, hot springs and even in poorly maintained swimming pools.
• Warm water temperatures, particularly during the summer months, create favourable conditions for the amoeba’s growth.
• It can only be seen with a microscope.
• Only one species of Naegleria, Naegleria fowleri, infects people.
• However, it doesn’t survive in saline conditions and is hence not found in sea water.
• It survives on bacteria found in the sediment in lakes and rivers.
• The amoeba enters the body through the nose and travels to the brain, leading to a severe and usually fatal brain infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
• This affects the brain by causing inflammation and destruction of brain tissue.
• The symptoms usually appear within a week of infection and include severe headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, confusion, seizures and hallucinations.
• Brain-eating amoeba can be fatal, with a recorded death rate of 97%.
• Naegleria fowleri infection does not spread from person to person, nor does it manifest symptoms when contracted in other forms.