Naegleria fowleri is a single-celled organism — an amoeba, which it attacks especially when it gets warmer – it lives in freshwater bodies of water, such as lakes and pondsand it is during favorable weather that people like to use them. If the water is contaminated with protozoa, it is easy to get infected.
Amoeba infection causes a rare parasitic disease that leads to acute primary encephalitis and meningitis. Treatment is very difficult and in many cases the infection is fatal. Researchers are constantly working to find new drugs, and there are also plans to develop an mRNA vaccine to prevent negleriosis.
Cases of invasion of this protozoan have been observed all over the world, including in Poland. Although it occurs rarely, as experts warn, due to the ongoing climate change, the spread N. fowleri may be accelerated. The brain-eating amoeba may begin to appear more frequently, even in places where it previously did not exist at all.
– Many countries are already experiencing extreme temperaturesand as a result, many people seek relief from the heat by immersing themselves in water, which is often very warm and already contaminated with coliform bacteria, and provides ideal conditions for the development of N. fowleri — said Sutherland Maciver of the University of Edinburgh in the UK.
Source: geekweek.interia.pl
