Why brain eating amoeba infections are becoming more common

Emerging from one of the hottest months on record, concerns are mounting from experts over how rising temperatures could also mean a rise of instances of fungal and brain eating amoeba infections.

In July alone, two individuals — one in Georgia and one in Nevada — were killed from contracting Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba, after swimming in bodies of fresh water. 

Brain-eating amoebas have commonly been found in the warm climates of southern states, but climate change is warming other regions so much they are on the way to becoming ideal host environments for the infection-causing amoebas as well.

“This is definitely a concern, as are a lot of other infectious diseases. We are probably going to see a change in trends because of the climate changing and the temperatures rising,” Wassim Ballan, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital told AZ Family. “So there is a lot of concern in the infectious disease community about a lot of different infections, including amoebic infections becoming more common as the climate is warming.” 

Infections are rare and do not spread from person to person, but the disease is extremely deadly and “infections usually happen when temperatures are hot, which results in higher water temperatures and lower water levels,” the CDC states on its website. “While infections with Naegleria fowleri are rare, they happen mainly during the summer months of July, August and September.”

Research published May 16 in the Ohio Journal of Public Health determined that “Increased incidence of N. fowleri in northern climates is but one of many ways climate change threatens human health and merits novel education of health care providers,” suggesting that clinicians across Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota prepare to see and treat increased cases.

Currently, treatment for cases of brain eating amoebas is difficult, but previous findings have pointed to the use of nitroxoline — the drug most commonly known for treating urinary tract infections — as a possible aid.