It sounds like science fiction but it’s true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it’s killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.”This is definitely something we need to track,” said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better,” Beach said. “In future decades, as temperatures rise, we’d expect to see more cases.”
Scares the snot out of me. Sorry if I seem flippant; it’s heartbreaking regarding this child.
BECAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING !!!
And, Kyoto.
JD–You have a heated pool at that big ol’ place?
I do not have a pool in my yard, but our little enclave has 2 heated community pools, and a small lake.
The solution to this is obvious.
We need to spew as much fossil fuel produced CO2 into the atmosphere until the temperature of all of our lakes and ponds reaches the boiling point.
Once the deadly cells are eliminated we aggresively kill off half of the eath’s population to bring global temperatures down.
Why are you all looking at me like that?
BJ – Fucking brilliant!
Maybe one of you science folks could answer this for me.
If the US implemented a policy that we would seek to raise the ambient temperature in the US by 5 degrees in next five years, is there any way in which we could do this? In short, could we raise or lower temperatures intentionally?
Sure, JD. All you have to do is locate the temperature measuring devices near air-conditioning exhaust pipes in parking lots.
LOL – too funny, Dan. To me, this simple question has always been at the heart of the AGW “debate” for me. We are asked to believe that we can have this effect, globally, and that effect is specifically tied to the actions of man. Yet, it is my understanding that we could not change the ambient temperatures even at a local level, on purpose, should we wish to do so, but … we can do it on accident?
Sheesh, BJ, any basic madman knows that burning bodies and rotting flesh generate greenhouse gases.
Nose clips.
Geezer:
Two words …… Salt Caverns
Again with the looks! What?! (LOL SarahW)
I’ve known about this amoeba creature for years. It’s not exactly a new thing. Natural bodies of water are not safe to swim in and never have been. Nature is not our friend.
Oh – and as for nose clips, how easy would it be for a child to dislodge them, or sneak them off when mother and father aren’t watching? Kids hate being uncomfortable. The best solution is to let kids (and adults — our brains can be eaten by amoebas too) swim only in clean, chlorinated swimming pools. Pools also have the added benefit of lacking all those slimy growths that are in lakes, alligators, etc.
That should be “no alligators.” An alligator in a pool is not exactly a benefit — unless you are trying to keep people out of the pool.
JD, here’s a link to a good site for global warming science skepticism based on science.
http://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2ScienceB2C/subject/v/summaries/volcanobio.jsp
That specfic link is to an article about biofeed back mechanisms as a result of the eruption of Mt. Pinitubo in 1990. The result of the eruption was almost a 1 degree C drop in global temprature. Additionally, they found that the plants in the area generated more offspring and had a fairly quick growth response due to the higher CO2 content of the air, as a result they produced more oxygen, via photosynthesis, and achieved a suprisingly quick atmospheric equalibria in the area.
The science surrounding that isn’t as suprising as you might think considering that we know that plants had to survive millions of years of evolution during which thousands of volcanic eruptions have happened. Likewise, the temprature chenge shouldn’t be a suprise to anyone with enough sense to step into the shade on a sunny day. If you are exposed to less heat generating energy the you are typically less hot.
So to answer your question, to the best of my ability, BJ is actually pretty close to right. If you were to nuke some volcanic lava domes you’d force enough particulate matter into the air to reflect away more solar energy. That could cut the temprature some, for a short time. However, like Mt. Pinatubo has shown, when you change the energy dynamic of an area, you change the food dynamic, which changes the flora and fauna which provides a biofeedback mechanism that normalizes the effect mostly because the volume of matter isn’t changing, just the energy and distribution. Changes in energy and distribution cause evolutionary forces to which life either reacts or is replaced by the creature that can most effectively take that spot in the biome.
That’s why instead of spending our effort on trying to stop a planet that has constantly changed, and will continue to do so no matter what we do, we need to expend our energy on the evolutionary tools that allow us to thrive, namely technology. I say that because paleobiography has shown that 99% of all species that exist today will go extinct if the numbers hold consistant to the fossil record. Add to that, the sharks and the cockroaches have a damn good track record, so statistically speaking we better get our shit in gear because those guys are the oddsmakers favorites.
Rob–That is one of the most disgustingly speciesist things I’ve ever read. Yay!
“…attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.“
Until you die? Man, I thought it just fed ’til you ran outta brain and turned rabidly Progressive.. kinda like 28 Weeks Later …
paleobiography
Isn’t that the cable TV show where they explore the lives of famous prehistoric people like Fred Flinstone, Loana from One Million Years BC or those Neanderthal guys from the Geico commercials ?
Hmmmm. Sally Struthers definitely looks like there’s a bit of Sleestak in her background.
Andrea, fair point, since Amoebas selectively attack the rowdy.
Notice that most of the victims were boys – the current thinking is they stir up a good deal more sediment, and splash and somersault more fluid onto the olfactory nerve.
paleobiography… yeah, that’s the danger of typing while watching tv. It’s a damn shame that every time I actually set my snark to low and try to be serious, I still manage to crap it up.
Oh well…
OTOH, there are idjits like me who go water-skiing in those same lakes, frequently performing spectacular wipeouts involving high-speed water intrusion through most bodily orifices, and still no brain-killer amoeba. I mean, I’m still blowing lake water out of my nose after last weekend.
What’s a guy gotta do to get some amoebal love around here?
The image I obtain thinking of Muskrat Love is not too attractive. Amoebal love has now given me the willies. And don’t amoebae have tendril sex or something or are they merely mitotic? It gives “divide and conquer” a new meaning in the context of human brain-eating…
Zombie amoebae! Night of the Living… um…
…Protozoa?
Andrea,
The best option for swimming in Fl is any of the hundreds of springs that dot the state. Much cleaner than the average pool and no brain-eating beasties.
But too cold for the locals, carl. These springs run 75 degrees and under, which is pretty cold.
Slarti, do you ski in the balmy shallows, amongst the algae?
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Amoeba
Amoeba who?
Amoeba rest.
I ski wherever the water is smoothest.
Which, sometimes, is in the balmy shallows. But I try to avoid the algae.
Slarti – Just returned from a week in your town. Though my 5 yr. old thinks I am God for her Disney experience, I was praying for some amoeba love after being subjected to el ultimo brain worm “It’s A Small World” 3 consecutive times, without exiting.
JD: I believe I have related the story of a buddy of mine who was stuck for almost 2 hours in the Japanese section of Its a Small World?
He still wakes up screaming on occasion…
My then 3 year old son simply shrieked at the top of his lungs through the entire ride. *shudder*
#12: “That should be “no alligators.†An alligator in a pool is not exactly a benefit  unless you are trying to keep people out of the pool.”
I bet Andrea keeps alligators in HER pool.
A major cause of death is being insufficiently paranoid. The Universe is trying to kill me. Entropy hates my local reversal of it’s inevitable trend.
BWHAHAHAHAHAHA. I am increasing my entropic efforts here, and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGG….pffftht.
And, by the by, when might one be sufficiently paranoid?
The Japanese section is particularly painful, as the translation, coupled with the music, is enough to make one long for a new song from Air Supply.
What exactly do you mean by that?
What do you mean, “What exactly do you mean by that?
Just what is it you’re trying to say? <glares menacingly while simultaneously scanning room for Men in Black™ and listening for helicopters>
I’m not being defensive; you’re being defensive!
For a never to be forgotten adventure, try Tokyo Disneyland. There were no translations.
Scary – lunch for $100 a person is scary. The good news is that our schools let out before their schools, so my kids got to ride as many times as they could stand without having to wait in line at all. The bad news is that I could have paid for a cheap car with what that vacation cost…
No brain eating amoeba, and my son didn’t find any of the poisonous snakes in the underbrush around the grandparents house. Did I mention projectile vomiting by my youngest daughter in the Detroit airport?
Wait a minute, wasn’t this creature on Ceti Alpha 6; how’d did it get here.
fat raisin hed all shrivveled up ha ha