brain-eating amoeba
Fatal waterborne parasite
A brain-eating amoeba is a single-celled organism, specifically *Naegleria fowleri*, that can infect the brain through the nasal passages, typically when contaminated water enters the nose during swimming in warm freshwater.
The infection, called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, is almost always fatal.
Despite terrifying media coverage, infections are extremely rare—a handful of cases per year in the United States.
- parasiteOne exploiting a host
- infectionPathogen invasion causing illness
- meningitisMembrane inflammation around brain
- deadlyAble to cause expiration
- rareSeldom found or seen
freshwater · lake · lake swimming · swimming · warm · warm water · water · tap water · fatal · organism · microscopic · disease · tropical · nose · nasal passage · skull · tissue · fever
- amoebasChaos, pseudopod
- brain parasitesneurocysticercosis, Toxoplasma gondii, pork tapeworm, toxoplasmosis, Taenia solium
- Percolozoa
- Gut Infectionsgastroenteritis, intestinal infection, food poisoning, dysentery, traveler's diarrhea
- parasitic infectionsmalaria, giardiasis, toxoplasmosis, leishmaniasis, trichomoniasis
brain, brains, brainy, brainless, brainpower, eating, eaters, inedible, amoeba