Naegleria fowleri is a microscopic amoeba that lives in warm, fresh waters. It can enter the nose and pass through the sinus membranes into the olfactory bulb, reproduces by fission and spreads throughout the brain. The amoeba consumes brain tissue, causes swelling of the brain and finally death.
There are three stages in the amoeba’s life cycle: cyst, trophozoite and a flagellated form. The trophozoite is the infectious form.
