Can you get the brain eating amoeba this way?

[NervousSubject]

I've been working in a supermarket deli for almost a year now, and one of my duties is to take care of the rotisserie side. When you put chickens in a rotisserie oven, a lot of grease and crap collects on the bottom and you're supposed to drain it out and scrub it at the end of the day with a built-in water spigot in the oven.

Sometimes I'm worried that a drop of dirty water could go up my nose while I'm cleaning it and I'll die of the amoeba :P I know that I live in an area that has never had a Nalgeria Fowleri death, I live in an area that isn't nearly as hot as down south, where most amoeba cases happen, and lately it's been kind of cool and temperate out. But I'm still concerned.

[nivekc251]

You being concerned about it makes it impossible for you to get it. Yes there is an astronomically low probability that there could be N.Fowleri in the tap. Then there is an astronomically low probability that a droplet could enter your nasal cavity, and yet another astronomically low probability that that same droplet go far enough into your sinuses to reach your Meninges. That being said you being cautious about the fauna makes it basically impossible for you to get. The world is full of infinite probabilities stop worrying about bs odds and focus on playing the lottery lol

[paranoid-viking]

BRAIN.EATING.AMOEBA??:huh::lac:

Come on, I mean, COME ON, please forgive me for being direct, I have HA too and fear a lot of things, but that is stretching is at far as it can go, doesn`t it? There are no such things as brain eating amoebas. Reminds me of X-files or something; I think it was in one episode. If I would fear something from water, being an hypocondriac too, it would be cholera, although that is unlikely to zero chance of that in the west.

Posts like this are good excamples to demonstrate that it sometimes is OK to ask medical questions on NMP instead of occupy time and space at the docs office.

BTW, wish you all well and stop worrying about this brain eating amoeba thing. And save your worries to when you need them.

[Fishmanpa]

I actually first heard of this through a story on my FB feed. There is a very, very, VERY rare single cell amoeba that can cause a life threatening illness. That being said, it's so rare that fewer than 8-10 cases are diagnosed a year in the US. That's 0-10 cases out of 300 million plus people.

All that said, the scenario presented is a 0% risk. I mean, what's more X Files is a drop of water (the word drop means it falls downward) could magically defy gravity and go far enough up someone's nose in the first place! :huh:

Positive thoughts

[NervousSubject]

So this week I've been visiting my grandfather in Ft Myers Florida and today I was hanging out in the river district and if anyone on this board is familiar with the area, they have those fountains near the boats.

I was walking on the sidewalk, and I felt a little something hit my nose and now I'm scared because I think that I might have just been exposed to Nalgeria Fowleri or the Brain Eating Amoeba from a drop of water from a wind gust. Please help me.

[AnxiousForever]

Looking this up. No.

Very few people seem to actually get this. And I mean very, very few. It seems to be one of the rarest things you can contract. It seems to only get between 0 to 8 people a year across the United States and each of them have only been in the summer.


Even though N. fowleri amoebas are relatively common, they only rarely cause brain disease. N. fowleri disease is known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It occurs from zero to eight times a year, almost always from July to September.


It seems to need warm water and the people who get it dive into the water where the inside of their nose is fully submerged. Not a drop on the outside of the nose.

[NervUs]

No!

[Fishmanpa]

I think that I might have just been exposed to Nalgeria Fowleri or the Brain Eating Amoeba from a drop of water from a wind gust.

:huh: ummmm :lac:

Positive thoughts