"Brain-eating" amoebas kill nearly all of their victims and a recent uptick in cases has heightened fears that they could be flourishing in an ever-warmer world.
The infection, which is caused by the microscopic Naegleria fowleri, is "back in the spotlight", said Gavi.org. Three children have died in Kerala, India, along with a man in Israel, since May. "Unconnected infections" have also been reported in Pakistan and the US this year.
The single-celled organism, which thrives in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, is known as the "brain-eating amoeba" because it "wriggles into the brain through the nose" and "feasts on people's brain matter", said Metro. It can cause a rare but "exceptionally lethal" infection, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). But experts fear climate change is "turning up the heat" – and turning more amoebas infectious.
N. fowleri is known to live on all continents except Antarctica, but PAM is extremely rare; fewer than 400 cases had been reported up until 2018. Yet survival is rarer still. Most people who contract a PAM infection die within a week. There was an "especially marked" increase in reported cases after 2000, one review published in 2020 found. "There are indications that climate change is likely beginning to increase the abundance and range of N. fowleri," said the study.
The "heat-loving parasite" can survive in freezing water, but warmer temperatures help it transform into an "infective form". It develops a biological "hook" to attach to cells in the lining of your nose, "aiding it on its journey to invade the brain".
The dormant amoeba has been seen in UK water treatment sites in London and Nottingham. As summers get warmer there are fears it could become infectious. | 
