Brain-eating amoeba in US freshwaters, warns CDC

NIRMAL YESODA

It was on last July that the Florida Department of Health (DOH) confirmed the presence of a deadly brain-eating amoeba in the state. This amoeba is deadly dangerous, as upon entering the human body, it could infect and destroy the brain. Now the CDC has revealed that this unicellular organism is showing a significant northward trend since 2010.

According to experts, this trajectory may be the result of climate change. These experts believe that a surge in temperature is helping the amoeba to move northward, as the amoeba may not have survived different conditions.

Experts revealed that these deadly unicellular organisms are usually found in warm freshwater systems such as lakes and rivers, as well as soil. If this amoeba enters the human body, it will result in a condition named amebic meningoencephalitis, resulting in brain inflammation and destruction.

Jennifer Cope, a medical officer at CDC’s Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch revealed that these microorganisms have now moved to northern regions including Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Kansas, and New Mexico.

“In 2010, the first Naegleria infection was reported from Minnesota, 600 miles farther north than any previously reported case. We are seeing a statistically significant northward trend in the latitude of water exposures among US recreational water-associated cases,” said Cope, Newsweek reports.

Health experts have warned swimmers who use warm freshwater. Some of the common symptoms associated with the infection of this amoeba are headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, loss of balance, and hallucinations.