The brain-eating zombie climate apocalypse is upon us
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
The Brain Eating Zombie Climate Apocalypse of Deathly Doom is upon us.
Seriously.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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” “Brain-eating” amoebas kill nearly almost all of their victims, and a recent uptick in cases has heightened fears that they could be flourishing in an ever-warmer world.
… The single-celled organism, which thrives in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, is known as the “brain-eating amoeba” because it “wriggles into the brain through the nose” and “feasts on people’s brain matter”, said Metro.
It can cause a rare but “exceptionally lethal” infection, primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
But experts fear climate change is “turning up the heat” – and turning more amoebas infectious.
… Most people who contract a PAM infection die within a week.
… “There are indications that climate change is likely beginning to increase the abundance and range of N. fowleri,” said the study.
… The “heat-loving parasite” can survive in freezing water, but warmer temperatures help it transform into an “infective form”.
It develops a biological “hook” to attach to cells in the lining of your nose, “aiding it on its journey to invade the brain”.
… The time to save someone with PAM is short, said Julia Walochnik, a professor of tropical medicine at the Medical University of Vienna.
“If it’s too late, it doesn’t matter which drug is used; the patient will usually not survive.”