The amoeba turned out to be a species of Naegleria, which normally lives in soil and doesn’t bother anybody. But in a few rare cases—and we still don’t know why—it can infect a person through his nose. Drinking infected water or breathing tiny droplets, like spray in the shower, won’t do the trick. For Naegleria to infect you, you need to get the amoeba-containing water inside your nose. Maybe you snorted some seawater while you were swimming. Your nose is lined with millions of nerve cells for smelling, and a nerve runs a short distance from there to the brain. This is the highway the amoebas
...more
