Naegleria fowleri: Symptoms, causes, and treatment of the 'brain-eating amoeba'

Just when the world was starting to pick up the pace after a complete pause triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, a new deadly infection is coming to the light. Naegleria fowleri also known as 'brain-eating amoeba' is a cause of a type of meningitis called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). PAM is a severe inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Early PAM signs and symptoms could resemble those of bacterial meningitis.

Let's know more about the 'brain-eating amoeba':

1. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, a health agency of the United States, says that Naegleria Fowleri is an amoeba (single-celled organism) that lives in soil and warm freshwaters, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs.

2. Naegleria Fowleri is commonly known as the 'brain-eating amoeba' because it causes brain infection. It was recorded for the first time in Australia in 1956.  

3. The brain-eating amoeba reaches the brain when water containing the amoeba reaches the brain through nose. A swim in the contaminated water or drive, even cleaning nostrils with the contaminated water can cause the amoeba to reach the brain. Scientists haven’t found any evidence of the brain-eating amoeba spreading through water vapour or aerosol droplets.

Read: Brain-Eating Amoeba: What you need to know about this deadly organism

4. PAM is a severe inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Early PAM signs and symptoms could resemble those of bacterial meningitis.

5. The symptoms start showing in 1 to 12 days after infection, but the initial PAM symptoms typically appear approximately 5 days later.

6. Headache, fever, nausea, and/or vomiting are possible symptoms. Seizures, hallucinations, seizures, stiff neck, confusion, and coma are some of the most severe symptoms that can develop later.

7. After the symptoms of the infection start showing, the affected person is likely to pass away within 5 days. So far only four people have been known to recover out of 154 infected individuals in the United States from 1962 to 2021.

8. Scientists have not been able to identify any effective treatment so far because the Naegleria fowleri infection is rare and progresses quickly. For now, doctors used a combination of drugs including--amphotericin B, azithromycin, fluconazole, rifampin, miltefosine, and dexamethasone.