Two children killed by brain eating amoeba

[terry78]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/brain-eating-amoeba-claims-second-victim-month-161107259.html


Geez.

 

[RoughNTumble]

never again will I swim in a lake

 

[Paroxysm]

Don't swim in stagnant water.

 

[socool]

Nature is so ****ed up.

 

[RoughNTumble]

Don't swim in stagnant water.

better idea

 

[Metamorpho1977]

I see a Syfy channel original movie coming from this.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

I see a Syfy channel original movie coming from this.

I've got a name for the movie.

Braineaters

 

[Teelie]

It's up to three now but the paranoia around it makes it sound far more ominous and dangerous than it is. If you swim in water that is not clean or is otherwise untreated wear a nose plug and you'll be fine on the off chance an amoeba does find its way up your nose.

 

[Venom75]

I'd never swim in a lake or stream anyway. Lord knows what else lurks there besides snakes,snapping turtles and leeches.

 

[Victarion]

Syfy presents Brainsharkoktopus.

 

[TheIncredibleSk]

 

[steintym]

That is messed up.

 

[Duke]

This is just sad. Should've taken better precautions.

 

[Casius--J]

What a crappy way to die, enjoying your summer like any other then to be killed off two weeks later.

 

[SuperFerret]

Nature is so ****ed up.

That is messed up.

How?

It's up to three now but the paranoia around it makes it sound far more ominous and dangerous than it is. If you swim in water that is not clean or is otherwise untreated wear a nose plug and you'll be fine on the off chance an amoeba does find its way up your nose.

The media sensationalizes this sort of thing, since they get more attention when people are scared. Taking proper precautions is a good idea and definitely something people should be aware of, but the fact that it seems that children are the ones dying from this suggests that a healthy and mature immune system would protect most people.

Of course, now I'm wondering about the life cycle of this amoeba

 

[Casius--J]

Superferret is AWESOME, any way i can see a larger version of it??

 

[CelticPredator]

Om nom nom nom?

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Don't swim in stagnant water.

You'd think

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Of course, now I'm wondering about the life cycle of this amoeba

And you're right. I just looked at the majority of people(all but 1 actually) who died fro m this in America were children.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

Spoons is totes looking at a way to get this ameoba back in his lab for research.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Spoons is totes looking at a way to get this ameoba back in his lab for research.

It eats bacteria, that's the last thing I need here lol

 

[SuperFerret]

Interesting, but it's still puzzling about how the parasite plans to get out of the brain once it's in there, and why it kills the host, which is usually not in a parasite's best interest. Perhaps it travels that way by accident?

I'll have to remember to look that up later.

And you're right. I just looked at the majority of people(all but 1 actually) who died fro m this in America were children.

And I bet that 1 person was also somehow immunocompromised.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

Seems to me like it doesn't more-less want to kill the host than just really have a host to be latched onto. Not like it was all "awe man, I'm sorry for killing you and all", but I'm sure the brain was just the most notable place for it to latch onto in the host.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Naegleria fowleri propagates in warm, stagnant bodies of freshwater (typically during the summer months), and enters the central nervous system after insufflation of infected water by attaching itself to the olfactory nerve. It then migrates through the cribiform plate and into the olfactory bulbs of the forebrain, where it multiplies itself greatly by feeding on nerve tissue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_amoebic_meningoencephalitis

This thing sounds as much like a parasite as it is an amoeba(not at all). It's classified as a "Percolozoa"; never heard of that before. It survives on nerve tissue, which happens to kill the host. I'm not seeing a mode of exit from the body at all. Like it dies when you die.

 

[SuperFerret]

That's still not in its best interest, which makes me think that there's some sort of mistake here.