A so-called "brain-eating" amoeba that usually affects people in southern states is making its way north amid rising temperatures attributed to climate change. And although even in the south, it's incredibly rare for humans to be infected, the threat is enough that public health agencies are beginning to warn medical professionals of the potential threat.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Naegleria fowleri, as the species is called, is commonly found in warm fresh water such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs, as well as in soil. These single-celled living organisms typically infect people swimming or diving in these fresh-water bodies of water, although rare cases have stemmed from under-chlorinated pools or water parks.
The amoeba enters the body through the nose and then travels to the brain, where it causes an infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which, if untreated, is nearly always fatal.
Fewer than 10 cases, primarily linked to swimming, have been reported nationwide each year since 1962. However, as cases have been popping up in northern and Midwestern states like Minnesota, Indiana, and Kansas over the past decade, the Ohio Journal of Public Health recently published a case report so health care providers know what symptoms to look out for.
"Increased incidence of this rare, deadly, and often misdiagnosed illness in northern states causes concern that N. fowleri is expanding northward due to climate change, posing a greater threat to human health in new regions where PAM has not yet been documented," the abstract of the case report states.
"This case study provides an example of public health nurses incorporating environmental health data into communicable disease investigations, demonstrating how public health professionals, health care providers, and individuals living in northern climates can work together to prevent, detect, and treat N fowleri infection," the report continues.
Though the disease is quick moving, if caught in time it can be treated with a combination of drugs including miltefosine—which has been used to kill the amoeba in a lab and has successfully treated three survivors.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/UMOT8DX
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