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Naegleria fowleri, also known as the brain-eating amoeba, is a species of the genus Naegleria. It belongs to the phylum Percolozoa and is classified as an amoeboflagellate excavate , [ 1 ] an organism capable of behaving as both an amoeba and a flagellate .
There, it migrates to the olfactory bulbs and subsequently other regions of the brain, where it feeds on the nerve tissue. The organism then begins to consume cells of the brain, piecemeal through trogocytosis, [14] by means of an amoebostome, a unique actin-rich sucking apparatus extended from its cell surface. [15]
The CDC has recorded 154 infections with the Naegleria fowleri amoeba since 1962. Most cases came from Southern states. Map shows where brain-eating amoebas are infecting people in lakes across the US
The term "brain-eating amoeba" has been used to refer to several microorganisms: Naegleria fowleri, which causes naegleriasis; Acanthamoeba spp., which causes the slow-acting infection acanthamoebiasis; Balamuthia mandrillaris, which causes balamuthiasis; Paravahlkampfia francinae, which causes a form of PAM; Sappinia pedata, which causes a ...
The amoeba is known as the “brain-eating amoeba” because it can cause a brain infection when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose, the health department said.
From 1962 to 2021, only four out of 154 people in the United States survived a brain-eating amoeba infection, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Contracting a brain-eating amoeba is a serious medical emergency, as it leads to primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, the medical condition caused by the amoeba that affects the brain and spinal cord.
Miltefosine has been used successfully in some cases of the very rare, but highly lethal, brain infection by the amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, acquired through water entering the nose during a plunge in contaminated water. [15] It has orphan drug status in the United States for acanthamoeba keratitis and primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM ...