Naegleria fowleri

Naegleria fowleri, colloquially known as the "brain-eating amoeba", is a species of the genus Naegleria. It belongs to the phylum Percolozoa and is technically classified as an amoeboflagellate excavate, rather than a true amoeba. This free-living microorganism primarily feeds on bacteria but can become pathogenic in humans, causing an extremely rare, sudden, severe, and usually fatal brain infection known as naegleriasis or primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

This article is about the protist. For the disease it causes, see Naegleriasis. For another protist with the same common name, see Balamuthia mandrillaris.

Naegleria fowleri
Diagram depicting the stages of Naegleria fowleri’s life-cycle and environment at that stage
Drawings of the three stages Naegleria fowleri’s life-cycle
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Phylum: Percolozoa
Class: Heterolobosea
Order: Schizopyrenida
Family: Vahlkampfiidae
Genus: Naegleria
Species:
N. fowleri
Binomial name
Naegleria fowleri
Carter (1970)

Typically found in warm freshwater bodies such as ponds or badly managed pools lakes, rivers, hot springs, warm water discharge from industrial or power plants, geothermal well water, poorly maintained or minimally chlorinated swimming pools with residual chlorine levels under 0.5 mg/m3, water heaters, soil, and pipes connected to tap water, it can exist in either an amoeboid or temporary flagellate stage.

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