A creature that lurks in lakes and ponds, crawls up your nose and eats your brain. Sounds like something out of science fiction, right? Nope, it's all too real.
The organism that does all this damage is called Naegleria fowleri. Find out why this sneaky predator is alarming to both scientists and the general public.
Naegleria fowleri is a microscopic amoeba that lives in warm freshwater, such as lakes, ponds and rivers. There are many species of Naegleria, and most of them do little or no harm to humans.
They eat bacteria and other detritus, explains Dennis Kyle, professor of infectious diseases and director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases at the University of Georgia.
But one of these amoebas, Naegleria fowleri, can infect humans, says Kyle, one of the world's top experts in pathogenic free-living amoebas. Naegleria fowleri enters your body through the nose, crosses the ...
