Earth Is Weird: On Brain-eating Amoebas
- Details
- Category: Earth Is Weird
- Published on Thursday, 16 August 2012 12:21
- Written by Chris
Naegleria fowleriIt's an amoeba.
It lives in warm water.
It's steadily moving north, thanks to climate change.
And it's going to kill us all.
Medical professionals call the infection frightening.
"It proceeds at a terrifying pace," said William Pomputius, an infectious disease consultant with Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
"The other thing that's disconcerting to us is that there are very few survivors. Even in cases where they've been recognized early," Pomputius said. "This is a very, very virulent organism once it's in the brain."
While infections in humans are rare, when they do occur, they have a 98% fatality rate!
You may now return to your regularly scheduled quiet terror.
biology
