close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffNaegleria infection is extremely rare. In the United States, millions of people are exposed to the amoeba each year but fewer than 10 people a year get sick from it.
Some factors that might increase your risk of naegleria infection include:
- Freshwater swimming. Most people who become ill have been swimming in a freshwater lake within the past two weeks.
- Heat waves. The amoeba thrives in warm or hot water.
- Age. Children and young adults are the most likely age groups to be affected.
- Sex. More boys than girls tend to develop naegleria infection.
References
- Fact sheet: Naegleria infection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http:www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/naegleria/factsht_naegleria.htm. Accessed Jan. 7, 2010.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Naegleria Workgroup. Primary amebic meningoencephalitis - Arizona, Florida and Texas, 2007. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report. 2008:21;573.
- Solaymani-Mohammadi S, et al. Naegleria fowleri. In: Long SS, et al. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/177544974-4/936603208/1679/273.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06687-0..50272-1_4741. Accessed Jan. 7, 2010.
- Weisse ME, et al. Primary amebic meningoencephalitis. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/177544974-4/936603208/1608/712.html#. Accessed Jan. 7, 2010.
- Leder K, et al. Free living amebas. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 7, 2010.
- Neurological diagnostic tests and procedures. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/misc/diagnostic_tests.htm. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on