Contents:
- Medical Video: How A Tiny Amoeba Can Eat Your Brain
- Get to know the amoebaNaegleria fowleri who likes to swim in dirty water
- Signs and symptoms of amoeba infection Naegleria fowleri
- Can this infection be treated?
- How to prevent?
Medical Video: How A Tiny Amoeba Can Eat Your Brain
During the rainy season, there are no new items if some regions in Indonesia are flooded. Children who play and swim across floodplains are no longer considered a strange phenomenon in our country. Even so, parents should as much as possible prevent their children from swimming in dirty water. No matter how high the puddle, flood water overflowing can be contaminated by various disease-causing organisms.
Quoted from the study by Dr. Supakorn Rojananin, M.D., deputy head of the Faculty of Medicine and associate professor atMahidol University, inundated water in East Jakarta in January 2005 containing colonies of E. coli bacteria and enteric viruses Hepatitis A was twice higher than ordinary river water. Well, there is one more organism that, although rare, is still dangerous and even deadly. His name is amoebaNaegleria fowleri.
Get to know the amoebaNaegleria fowleri who likes to swim in dirty water
Amoeba is a single cell organism that is very small and can infect humans. Recently a rare species of amoeba has been namedNaegleria fowleri infect the brain of a teenager in the United States after he swims in turbid water, a river near his home.
Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba that is very small, which is 8 to 15 micrometers. In comparison, human hair has a width of 40 to 50 micrometers. This type of amoeba is often found in warm freshwater, generally in rivers and lakes - especially dirty ones. This Amoeba can even be found in swimming pools that are less clean.
How is the amoebaNaegleria fowleri infect humans?
Naegleria fowleri actually rarely infects humans. You can and may have experienced contact with this amoeba and not fallen ill. Because if swallowed, stomach acid you can immediately kill it. But if an infection occurs, it will usually be fatal.
Infection can occur when the amoeba enters the body through the nostrils when you swim in turbid water and breathe it. From there, amoeba infects the brain through the olfactory nerve fibers in your nose. Because it infects the brain,Naegleria fowleri also often known as brain-eating amoeba.
Between 1962 and 2015, of 138 amoeba infections, only three survived according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States (equivalent to the Directorate General of Disease Control in Indonesia).
Signs and symptoms of amoeba infection Naegleria fowleri
InfectionNaegleria fowlerican cause a set of symptoms called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, which is characterized by inflammation of the brain which gradually destroys brain tissue. The general symptoms are nausea vomiting that occurs five days after the first exposure to the amoeba.
A series of other symptoms can begin within 2 to 15 days after exposure to the amoeba. Other signs and symptoms of naegleria infection can include:
- Changes in the sense of smell or taste
- Fever
- Serious and sudden headaches
- Stiff neck
- Sensitivity to light
- Nausea and vomiting
- Daze
- Balance loss
- Sleepiness
- Convulsions
- Hallucinations
Can this infection be treated?
This amoeba infection is very deadly. After symptoms arise, an infected person can die within 5-7 days.
But this can be prevented with proper treatment. In patients who have been infected with amoeba, the emergency treatment is with a cancer drug called Impavido (miltefosine).
The main treatment for infectionNaegleria fowleri is an antifungal drug, amphotericin B - usually injected into a blood vessel (intravenously) or in the area around the spinal cord to kill the amoeba.
How to prevent?
One prevention that can be done to prevent infection of this type of amoeba is to avoid swimming in dirty water and immerse the head (for example swimming or diving) into the water. Also avoid bathing and washing your nose with contaminated water.
