What is Naegleria fowleri? Deadly disease from lakes and rivers prompts health warning

Naegleria fowleri, colloquially known as the brain-eating amoeba, prompted a health warning after an unidentified person in Arizona was diagnosed with an unknown illness. The Arizona Department of Health Services and Mohave County sent in officials to conduct a joint investigation and collect samples that were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, on October 25, 2023, the CDC reported that the individual's samples tested negative for the brain-eating amoeba. The organization is yet to disclose what caused the mystery illness, as per the New York Post.

As per the organization, Naegleria fowleri is an ameba (single-celled living organism) that survives in soil and warm freshwater, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs.

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Naegleria fowleri causes an infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis

On Tuesday, October 24, 2023, Mohave County officials from Arizona sent specimens off to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because they suspected a case of life-threatening Naegleria fowleri. A day later, the CDC confirmed that the results were negative.

As per the CDC, Naegleria fowleri is the only species of the Naegleria amoeba that infects humans, destroys brain tissue, and eventually causes swelling. It causes an infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). PAM is almost always fatal, as per the website, and the infection only has a 3% survival rate.

KTNV stated that only 29 infections have been recorded from 2013-2022. One of those cases, however, was on the Arizona side of Lake Mead, when an unnamed boy under the age of 18 died after being infected by the amoeba last year.

In 2022, a Nevada resident had a confirmed case of Naegleria fowleri after being exposed to the same in Kingman Wash.

Individuals can get infected when water containing the said amoeba enters the body through the nose. This typically occurs when people are swimming in lakes and rivers. The symptoms of the disease include splitting headaches, fever, nausea, confusion, hallucinations, and vomiting. The symptoms begin about five days after one has been infected by the amoeba. The amoeba can cause death within one to 18 days of one being infected.

The single-celled living organisms live in warm, freshwater, and soil all around the world and they thrive during the summer heat in July, August, and September, as per the New York Post.

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How to avoid the deadly amoeba?

Health officials at the CDC have said that the following tips can be used to avoid the dangerous amoeba.

1. Individuals must close their nose with their hand, use nose clips, and keep their head above water while swimming in bodies of warm fresh water.
2. They must avoid putting their head underwater in hot springs and other untreated geothermal waters.
3. They must avoid digging in the mud in shallow, warm freshwater bodies as the amoeba is more likely to live in sediment at the bottom of lakes, ponds, and rivers.

According to the Washington Post, the amoeba cannot survive in saltwater and has never been detected in seawater. It is also moderately sensitive to chlorine and cannot survive in swimming pools that are properly chlorinated. However, they have been found in rare instances when pools were not well maintained.

There is evidence that suggests that some drugs such as miltefosine can be effective in treating Naegleria fowleri, according to the CDC, however, scientists are yet to come to a conclusion about definitive treatments.