Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria (an amoeba) lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment (meaning that it is also found in soil.)
People become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose — say, by doing a somersault in chest-deep water — the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve.
The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain, where it continues the damage, “basically feeding on the brain cells."
People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers. In the later stages, they’ll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes.
Once infected, most people (i.e. 95%) have little chance of survival. Some drugs have stopped the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have been attacked rarely survive. Life expectancy seems to be about two weeks!
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