Each summer, the ancient microbial world reasserts itself in the warm shallows where children play, and a North Carolina teenager now lies critically ill as a reminder that nature harbors dangers no infrastructure can fully tame. Naegleria fowleri — a microscopic organism that enters through the nose and destroys brain tissue — has claimed an eight-year-old's life in Louisiana and now threatens another young life, even as researchers find its presence spreading across national parks in the American West. Public health officials can counsel caution, but they cannot remove this amoeba from the l
NC Teen Critically Ill With Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba Infection
A central North Carolina teenager is critically ill with a rare brain-eating amoeba infection; an 8-year-old girl died from the same infection in Louisiana.