Been swimming lately?

If so, and if it was in a fresh water pool, it’s possible you could have encountered the fearsome “Brain Eating Amoeba”. Oh yes they’re real. So real that 3 people died last summer from it. Also the CDC even issued a warning as recently as this past February, when the dreaded B.E.A's showed up in a nasal spray. Good times!

For you sciency types here's the scoop. It's a little long but when I read through it there's a familiar sound to it. Wrath of Khan anyone.

Amphotercin B is effective against N. fowleri in vitro, but the prognosis remains bleak for those that contract PAM, and survival remains less than 1%. On the basis of the in vitro evidence alone, the CDC currently reccomends treatment with Amphotericin B for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, but there is no evidence that this treatment affects outcome. Treatment combining miconazole, sulfadiazine, and tetracycline has shown limited success only when administered early in the course of an infection.

While miltefosine had therapeutic effects during an in vivo study in mice, Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) showed to be the most effective substance - the autheros concluded: "Chlorpromazine had the best therapeutic activity against N. fowleri in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, it may be a more useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of PAME than amphotericin B."

Timely diagnosis remains a very significant impediment to the successful treatment of infection, as most cases have only been discovered post-mortem. Infection killed 121 people in the U.S. from 1937 through 2007, including six in 2007 (three in Florida, two in Texas, and one in Arizona). The illness killed one 2008 in California, one in 2009 in Florida, and in 2010 there were 3 reported cases; one in Arkansas, one in Minnesota, and one in Texas, with a fourth case of an unidentified amoeba in South Carolina. In 2011, there were 2 deaths in Louisiana due to the use of tap water (albeit, a rare infection medium) in a "neti pot." There were also individual deaths in 2011 in Virginia, Louisiana, Florida, and Kansas.

SYMPTOMS

Onset symptoms of infection start 1 to 14 days after exposure. The initial symptoms include, but are not limited to, changes in taste and smell, headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and stiff neck. Secondary symptoms include confustion, hallucinations, lack of attention, ataxia, and seizures. After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly over 3 to 7 days, with death occurring from 7 to 14 days after exposure.