Light Micrograph of Naegleria fowleri Entamoeba Infection Brain Tissue Specimen
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A man infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba has died Naegleria fowleriFlorida health officials said.
An unnamed man may have contracted an amoeba after using a neti pot to rinse his sinuses with tap water, according to the Florida Department of Health. Florida officials announced on February 23 that the man had contracted an amoeba and died on March 2.
N. Fowleri Amoebas are particularly harmful amoebas, says Sutherland Maciver of the University of Edinburgh (UK), co-author of a 2020 paper questioning whether amoebas were “new parasites”.
“Amoebae enter the nostrils as they swim, penetrate the cribriform plate, and enter the brain,” says Maciver. “It’s called a brain-eating amoeba. It’s a funny but pretty defensible nickname.”
Maber said N. Fowleri It is a “devastating infectious disease for infected people” with a fatality rate of 96%. Although the infection is treatable, symptoms are very similar to those of meningitis, and parasitic infections are so rare that only about 430 cases have been reported worldwide by 2020. , often diagnosed only postmortem.
When a doctor can establish that someone has a disease N. Fowleri Infection, they can try treatment with the drug miltefosine. “It probably has something to do with the membrane.”
N. Fowleri It thrives in naturally occurring warm water areas. “Water needs to be around 30°C almost permanently before an amoeba can compete with anything else in the water,” he says Maciver. He says the concentration of cases in the United States is due in part to the concentration of specialists in the United States who can accurately diagnose the disease. This may exaggerate that the country is a hotspot for infection.
“Another hotspot is Karachi, Pakistan,” says Maciver. With proper chlorination, there should be no problems. Also, importantly, it kills the bacteria that amoebas feed on. “
Infections are rare, but Maciver suggests not swimming in warm open water. “This is a problem because physical violence in action can damage the nasal mucosa,” he says.
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