Naegleria fowleri - Brain-Eating Amoeba

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Naegleria fowleri can cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a brain infection that is almost always fatal. Humans are particularly at high risk for contracting PAM if the brain-eating amoebas enter through the nose ” which can happen when people swim or dive in freshwater contaminated with Naegleria fowleri.

It can also happen in the shower and some researcherssay that Naegleria fowleri had formed and established colonies in a tankless water heater and a pipe even though they couldn't find it in the public purified water supplying the homes. Some people are worried about some sinus and or dental devices helping propagate the brain-eating amoeba as well.

In the early stages of PAM, symptoms may be similar to those of bacterial meningitis: a severe headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. Late-stage symptoms include seizures, hallucinations and coma¦ followed by death in nearly every case. These single-celled living organisms seem to have originated in Australia but has now evolved to the United States.