Using the direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) staining technique, this photomicrograph depicts the histopathologic characteristics associated with a case of amebic meningoencephalitis due to Naegleria fowleri parasites. Naegleria fowleri infects people when water containing the ameba enters the body through the nose. This typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places, like lakes and rivers. The Naegleria fowleri ameba then travels up the nose to the brain where it destroys the brain tissue.
A Georgia resident has died from a rare brain-eating amoeba after they were likely infected while swimming in a freshwater lake or pond, officials said.
The resident, who has not yet been identified, died after being exposed to Naegleria fowleri, which can cause a rare infection that "destroys brain tissue, causing brain swelling and usually death," the Georgia Department of Public Health said in a news release Friday.
It was not clear exactly when the resident died or where they were swimming when they contracted the infection.
"Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba (single-celled living organism) that lives in soil and warm, freshwater lakes, rivers, ponds, and hot springs," the health department said. It noted that the amoeba is not found in salt water or in properly treated drinking water or swimming pools.
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The amoeba is known as the "brain-eating amoeba" because it can cause a brain infection when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose, the health department said. "It cannot infect people if swallowed and is not spread from person to person," the department noted.
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