5 ms·
Naegleria fowleri (aka brain-eating amoeba)
by mikequinlan 3y ago
Naegleria fowleri (aka brain-eating amoeba)
- threesevenths 3y agoIs there any significant chance of catching it without getting hot water from a freshwater source up your nose or being immunocompromised?
- mikequinlan 3y agoDeadly brain amoeba infects US tap water (2013) https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/deadly-brain-amoeba-infects-us-tap-water-first-time-8c11172643 https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/deadly-brain-amoeba-infec...
- hyperific 3y agoIt's on the rise as well (2022) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/21/brain-eating-amoeba-climate-crisis-naegleria-fowleri https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/21/brain-ea...
- matthewtse 3y agoI went wakeboarding in a freshwater lake a few years ago. On the first wipeout, my face smashed into the water, and it went very far up my nose. On getting up, I remembered "Naegleria fowleri", and wondered, hmmmm this might have killed me. Luckily no symptoms appeared over the next few days. I feel like wakeboarding should be banned in warm freshwaters.
- lettergram 3y agolol ban wakeboarding? Ah yes let’s ban fun because… > The risk of Naegleria fowleri infection is very low. There were 29 reported infections in the United States in the 10 years from 2013 to 2022, despite millions of recreational water exposures each year. By comparison, in the 10 years from 2011 to 2020, there were an estimated 4,012 unintentional drowning deaths each year in the United States. https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/general.html https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/general.html You’re 150x more likely to drown. And even that is exceedingly unlikely - like 0.05% or something per year.
- Zenzero 3y agoOK then add in all of the suspect bacterial or viral meningitis that was actually N fowleri because it's "so rare".
- brianpan 3y agoContact lenses and tap water will do it. From your eye, it can travel to your lungs or brain. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21560-acanthamoeba-keratitis https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21560-acantha...
- throwup238 3y agoVibrio vulnificus! (Flesh eating bacteria found in warm waters like Florida)