Every year at around this time, news outlets begin sounding the alarm about N. fowleri, the so-called brain-eating amoeba. The amoeba is ubiquitous in the soil in many parts of the world, including North America, as well as in untreated water in the geographic areas where it occurs. Swallowing n. fowleri-contaminated water does not cause illness, but if the water is forced into the upper nasal passages, it migrates up the olfactory nerve and causes a parasitic encephalitis that, until recently, was almost always fatal.
Since the N. fowleri was identified as a cause of encephalitis in the 1960s, over 100 cases have been documented in the United States. Most patients contracted the infection after swimming in freshwater lakes and rivers or after irrigating their sinuses with contaminated water. In the past few years, awareness of the infection has led to more patients presenting with symptoms of encephalitis or meningitis being tested for N. fowleri and receiving treatment, leading to improved survival rates. If you suffered a parasitic infection after being exposed to contaminated water at a recreational facility, contact a Houma personal injury lawyer.
New Data Show Improved Survival Rates for Infected Patients Who Receive Early Diagnosis and Treatment
Until recently, most N. fowleri patients were children and adolescents who became infected after swimming in lakes or otherwise engaging in recreational activities in chlorinated freshwater. The N. fowleri amoeba cannot survive in freshwater or in chlorinated swimming pools. A few patients became infected because of improper water treatment in municipal water systems, including a child who became infected after a splash pad visit. There may have been more N. fowleri deaths than the medical literature reports, as many patients may have died without anyone realizing that the amoeba was the cause of their encephalitis. By the early 2020s, fewer than ten patients in the United States were known to have recovered from N. fowleri encephalitis.
An outbreak of N. fowleri in India in 2025 changed the narrative. More than 200 patients became ill after exposure to the amoeba after swimming or irrigating their sinuses with water from a certain area of the river. Once physicians became aware of the epidemic, they began testing anyone whose sinuses had been exposed to the contaminated water, and more than half of the infected patients survived. Mortality rates were higher among patients with underlying chronic illnesses, such as diabetes.
Prevention is Still the Best Medicine, and N. fowleri Infections Are Preventable
The brain-eating amoeba cannot harm you unless you get unchlorinated freshwater up your nose. Therefore, you can avoid infection by only swimming in the ocean or in chlorinated pools. If errors in water treatment led to water that is supposed to be chlorinated, causing infection, the business or governmental entity responsible for the water is legally responsible for the injury it caused.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Personal Injury Cases
A personal injury lawyer can help you if you were injured by preventable exposure to waterborne parasites. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.
Sources
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-026-01658-8
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