In 2013, a man in Taiwan died 25 days after being infected by Naegleria fowleri.It affects healthy children or young adults who have recently been exposed to bodies of fresh water. Some people have presented with a clinical triad of edematous brain lesions, immune suppression and fever. Scientists speculate that lower age groups are at a higher risk of contracting the disease because adolescents have a more underdeveloped and porous cribriform plate, through which the amoeba travels to reach the brain. Cause
N. fowleri invades the central nervous system via the nose, specifically through the olfactory mucosa of the nasal tissues. This usually occurs as the result of the introduction of water that has been contaminated with N. fowleri into the nose during activities such as swimming, bathing or nasal irrigation.The amoeba follows the olfactory nerve fibers through the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone into the skull. There, it migrates to the olfactory bulbs and subsequently other regions of the brain, where it feeds on the nerve tissue. The organism then begins to consume cells of the brain, piecemeal through trogocytosis, by means of an amoebostome, a unique actin-rich sucking apparatus extended from its cell surface. It then becomes pathogenic, causing primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM or PAME).Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis presents symptoms similar to those of bacterial and viral meningitis. Upon abrupt disease onset, a plethora of problems arise. Endogenous cytokines, which release in response to pathogens, affect the hypothalamus thermoregulatory neurons and cause a rise in body temperature.
By 1968 the causative organism, previously thought to be a species of Acanthamoeba or Hartmannella, was identified as Naegleria. This same year, occurrence of sixteen cases over a period of three years (1962–1965) was reported in Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia. In 1970, Carter named the species of amoeba N. fowleri, after Malcolm Fowler. Society and culture
Naegleria fowleri is also known as the "brain-eating amoeba". The term has also been applied to Balamuthia mandrillaris, causing some confusion between the two; Balamuthia mandrillaris is unrelated to Naegleria fowleri, and causes a different disease called granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. Unlike naegleriasis, which is usually seen in people with normal immune function, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis is usually seen in people with poor immune function, such as those with HIV/AIDS or leukemia.Naegleriasis was the topic of episodes 20 and 21 in Season 2 of the medical mystery drama House, M.D. Research
The U.S. National Institutes of Health budgeted $800,000 for research on the disease in 2016. Phenothiazines have been tested in vitro and in animal models of PAM. Improving case detection through increased awareness, reporting, and information about cases might enable earlier detection of infections, provide insight into the human or environmental determinants of infection, and allow improved assessment of treatment effectiveness. See also
Balamuthia mandrillaris – unrelated pathogenic organism that shares the same common name as N. fowleri

References
External links
Naegleria Infection Information Page from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Naegleria General Information from the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention