Deadly brain-eating amoeba spreading fast in US, says report

A deadly brain-consuming amoeba — Naegleria fowleri — is crawling its way northward from the southern states of the US, per media reports.

According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the geographic range of these cases has been advancing northward. Now, more cases are being reported in midwestern states in the US.

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Naegleria fowleri is a free-living microscopic amoeba. It can cause a rare and devastating infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). The amoeba is commonly found in warm freshwater and soil. Naegleria fowleri usually infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose, CDC explained.

Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain, where it causes PAM, which is usually fatal. Infection typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places, like lakes and rivers. In very rare instances, Naegleria infections may also occur due to contaminated water from other sources.

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CDC further added that one cannot get infected from swallowing water contaminated with Naegleria.

Past cases

In a new research published in Emerging Infectious Diseases , the scientists examined US instances of N. fowleri associated with recreational water presentation — for example, swimming in lakes, lakes, waterways or stores — from 1978 to 2018. They detected around 85 instances of N. fowleri that met their standards for the examination.

So far, most of the cases were reported in the southern states. However, six were reported in the Midwest, including Minnesota, Kansas and Indiana. Of these six cases, five happened after 2010, the report said.

The uplifting news: there have just been 34 contaminations announced in the US over the most recent 10 years, per CDC information.

The examination, which inspected CDC information from 1978 to 2018, found that new cases moved northwards at about 8.2 miles every year.

"It is conceivable that rising temperatures and resulting increments in recreational water use, for example, swimming and water sports, could add to the changing the study of disease transmission of PAM," the paper stated.