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Symptoms of brain-eating amoeba, also known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), include:
Early symptoms: Fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, and sensitivity to light
Later symptoms: Confusion, loss of balance, lack of attention, hallucinations, seizures, and coma
Other symptoms: Runny nose or nose bleeds, sore throat, alterations in taste and smell, and swollen lymph nodes
Symptoms usually appear within 2 to 15 days after exposure to the amoeba, but can appear as early as 1 day. PAM progresses quickly, and most people die within 1 to 18 days after symptoms begin.
You should seek immediate medical care if you develop any of these symptoms, especially if you've been in warm fresh water.
To prevent infection, you can:
Keep your head out of hot springs and other bodies of untreated geothermal water
Don't dig into or stir up the sediment at the bottom of shallow bodies of warm fresh water
PAM is caused by Naegleria fowleri, a single-celled organism that lives in soil and warm freshwater environments. Infection occurs only when water enters the nose, and you cannot be infected from swallowing water. Naegleria fowleri is not contagious and cannot be spread from person to person.