Fatal brain-eating amoeba strikes US: What is Naegleria fowleri? Check symptoms, signs and treatment

A resident of Missouri in the United States died after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba at the Lake of the Ozarks, state health officials announced this week, reports Fox News. The patient, died Tuesday at a St. Louis-area hospital, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) said in a news release. The patient was identified as an adult from Missouri. The officials stated that on August 13 the individual had contracted Naegleria fowleri, a microscopic amoeba that causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). PAM is a rare but nearly always fatal brain infection often referred to as “brain-eating” disease. No other cases are suspected in the area, the health agency stated in its press release.

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What is Naegleria fowleri?

According to CDC, Naegleria fowleri is a free-living ameba, a kind of one-celled organism that thrives in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, and hot springs. It is often called the "brain-eating ameba" because it can infect the brain and destroy brain tissue. Though brain infections caused by Naegleria fowleri are very rare but nearly always fatal.

Naegleria fowleri is naturally present in warm freshwater such as lakes, rivers and ponds and the amoeba thrives in river and lake water at 80 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, especially after storms.

How does the amoeba infect people?

The amoeba infects people when water enters the body through the nose, traveling to the brain where it destroys brain tissue. Health officials stressed that the infection is extremely rare. Fewer than 10 cases are reported in the US each year. Since 1962, only 167 cases have been documented nationwide, according to the DHSS. Missouri has confirmed just two other cases in its history — one in 1987, and another in 2022.

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What are the signs and symptoms?

CDC explains early symptoms of PAM can include headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting. PAM progresses rapidly. Most people with PAM die within 1 to 18 days after symptoms begin. It usually leads to coma and death after 5 days.

As PAM progresses, symptoms can include stiff neck, confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, and hallucinations.

“Early symptoms should prompt a medical evaluation, as they are also signs of bacterial meningitis,” Tammy Lundstrom, chief medical officer and infectious disease specialist for Trinity Health in Michigan, previously told Fox News Digital.

Drinking contaminated water does not present a risk, and the infection does not spread from one person to another, Lundstrom added. Treatment usually includes a variety of antifungal medications, as well as antibiotics like rifampin and azithromycin, she said.

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Exposure risks of brain-eating amoeba

Brain infections caused by Naegleria fowleri most often occur when people swim or dive in lakes, rivers, or other freshwater sources during the summer. The risk is higher after long periods of hot weather, which raise water temperatures and lower water levels.

In some cases, infections have been linked to using tap water containing Naegleria fowleri for sinus rinsing or nasal cleansing. Very rarely, infections have also been reported from recreational water facilities—such as splash pads or surf parks—where chlorine levels were not properly maintained.

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It’s important to note that swallowing water with Naegleria fowleri does not cause infection, and the disease cannot spread from person to person.

The health officials have urged residents and visitors to take precautions when swimming or engaging in water sports in warm freshwater. It recommends holding your nose shut or using clips, avoiding stirring sediment in warm shallow water, not dunking your head in hot springs, and using distilled or boiled water for sinus rinses.