Name: The Brain Eating Amoeba Found In Lakes - What You Need To Know
Uploaded: 2026-02-01T16:57:44.000Z
Duration: 4 min 22 s
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I've been informed that some of my video topics I choose are sometimes anxiety inducing.

Adverbs of degree

So today's video is going to be about something very fun and calming.

Did you know the first sense that puppies develop is touch?

We interrupt this adorable video to bring you breaking news.

Getting water up your nose can actually kill you.

For more on this development is our Block 5 news video correspondent.

By the way, if getting water up your nose wasn't painful well enough, it turns out that it can actually kill you.

Now it's not the water itself, but something that's lurking within it, invisible to the naked eye.

And some say it's the scariest thing they've ever heard of.

It's a free living amoeba, which means that it's a single celled organism that doesn't need a host in order to survive as a parasite does, but

And if this little amoeba gets into your brain, it's going to eat it.

We talked to one local human about this, and here's what they had to say.

This is why I don't leave my house, okay?

It's not because I don't get invited to parties.

I do, and I would go, but it's because of the amoeba stuff that I.

So could you just get it on the record that I do get invited to parties?

Naegleria fowleri lives in warm, fresh water and soil all around the world.

It really likes the heat and is often found in the summer in sources whose temperatures are over 26 degrees Celsius.

These sources include places like lakes, rivers, hot springs, poorly managed pools, water heaters, and

the soil at the bottom of lakes and rivers.

But even though it can be found in all these places, infections are extremely rare.

Why didn't our news station just mention that in the beginning?

In the last 10 years, only 31 cases have been reported in the United States.

Out of the millions and millions of people who are exposed to recreational water like lakes and pools, infections can only occur if water containing Naegleria fowleri goes up your nose.

When happens, the amoeba travels through the olfactory nerve, enters the brain, and destroys it.

We asked one of these amoeba to share their side of the story.

Humans drink other animals milk all the time.

One study found that the brain tissue is dissolved by enzymes made by the amoeba.

As the brain tissue deteriorates, it causes the brain to swell, which results in death.

This infection is known as primary amoebic meningocephalitis, or PAM, and is almost always fatal.

In the 154 cases in the US since 1962, there have only been four survivors.

PAM first causes symptoms like headaches, fever and nausea before advancing to more serious complications like seizures, hallucinations and coma.

This happens pretty quickly, with death most often occurring in just five days.

Because of how rare it is and how fast it progresses, scientists haven't yet identified an effective treatment for it, but

they believe that there are some medicines that may work if the infection is identified early on.

But the best way to avoid PAM is to prevent untreated fresh water from going up your nose.

So you might want to think twice before diving into a warm lake or rinsing your sinuses with untreated tap water.

Great reporting as always for Block 5 news.

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100 adorable dog facts that I'm sure brought a smile to your face.

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