Akhtung! In fresh water, amoebas multiply, which feed on the human brain

There is such an amoeba - Naegleria Fowleri Naegleria, which is worse than zombies. This simplest lives in water and, getting into the nose when bathing, gets to the brain, where it multiplies, eating cerebral fluid and gray matter, which almost always leads to death.

Until now, in the United States, cases of death from the disease called PAM - primary ammonia meningoencephalitis were rare, from three to eight cases a year. But recently, they became more frequent, according to The Verge , N. Fowleri began to find in unexpected places. This, experts believe, is a consequence of warming: these protozoa can exist only in very warm fresh water, about 30 ° C.

“The climate is changing, and this is in the hands of Neggleia,” says Travis Haggie, Associate Professor of the University of Bowling Green, who has been observing these amoebas for many years, “if the warm weather will continue, I think we will see how it will spread further and further north.”

You might think that the biologist simply incurs fear, but his words are confirmed by recent cases of PAM in Texas and Arizona. In Minnesota, local doctors were stunned when they found that the death of two young children in 2010 and 2012 was caused by this infection. These are the first fixed cases of PAM in the history of the state, which is 550 miles of those places where they still found the bacterium. In two unrelated cases in 2011, people died after rinsing the nose with raw tap water.

The amoeba is not dangerous if it is in the stomach through the mouth - the acid kills it, but literally one in the nose is enough so that the nightmare becomes a reality. A fatal outcome is possible after two weeks, and it is almost impossible to make an accurate diagnosis in the incubation period. The problem of diagnosis is one of the reasons why N. Fowleri infection leads to death with a probability of 99%; Over the past 50 years, only one case of patient survival has been documented after PAM infection.

Due to high mortality, there is no proven drugs for infection. However, in June of this year, American doctors received permission to import and storage of Miltefozin from FDA, which in laboratory tests showed its high efficiency in the fight against N. Fowleri.

At the same time, Travis Haggi believes that N. Fowleri affects people much more often than the statistics fix it, because the PAM symptoms are the same as that of infectious meningitis. In his works, the biologist claims that he discovered N. Fowleri in completely unexpected places, much north of traditional habitats, including in water colder than 30 ° C, which was still considered the lower temperature limit for these amoebas.

By the way, this rubbish is found not only in America, but also on other continents. Cases of death from PAM have repeatedly recorded in Europe. In Russia, this diagnosis, as far as you can understand, is simply not made.

It should be noted that the prevention of infection is not so complicated - it is enough to put on a bow clip while bathing in hot weather in fresh reservoirs. This simple precaution can save your brain.