Brain-eating amoeba lives

shockedFrom the AP wire:

It sounds like science fiction but it’s true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.  Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it’s killed six boys and young men this year.

…According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri  killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona.  In central Florida, authorities started an amoeba phone hot line advising people to avoid warm, standing water and areas with algae blooms.

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Author: Rick Outzen

Rick Outzen is the publisher/owner of Pensacola Inweekly. He has been profiled in The New York Times and featured in several True Crime documentaries. Rick also is the author of the award-winning Walker Holmes thrillers. His latest nonfiction book is “Right Idea, Right Time: The Fight for Pensacola’s Maritime Park.”