I stayed with the chap who first described this organism in the 80's when I was on a study trip to Australia (I'm an infection control nurse). Microbiologist called Rod Carter who worked in the Adelaide Children's hospital. He was examining a cerebrospinal fluid specimen from a child with meningitis down a microscope when something 'swam' across his view. Previously they cultured the CSF and of course no bacteria grew, so they kept getting cases of fatal meningitis that didn;t respond to the antibiotics you would usually use. He named it it Naegleria fowleri after his boss (smart move) then spent the next few years occasionally travelling the world lecturing on it. The good news is that it's easily cured with an antibiotic active against anaerobic bacteria called Metronidazole that you may also get for tooth abscess. Endemic in stagnant water holes in Aus, but everyone knows about it now. So not a brain eater.
