PSA: River, lake, fresh water bath? Hold your nose *tight*

There is about a 1 in 10,000 chance that if you inhale fresh water through your nose, this nice little thing will get into your nose. brain-eating amoeba that causes an almost certainly fatal encephalitis. The only way to get infected is through your nose, so just put on a nose clip and you’re good to go. Ingestion, ears, eyes, open wounds, no problem, just your nose.

Don’t be like me, who happily swam in a river against the current five minutes before remembering its existence, communicated to me by a doctor friend last year while we were bathing in a pond. Day 7 of exposure today, if I die next week I would at least like to prevent other people from becoming the next case.

Oh, it’s not that likely eh, in Italy Only one case has been recorded, in 2003 but it’s also true that It is probably often unidentified, confused with other types of meningitis.

Enjoy your bath!

(Source of "one chance in 10,000": in the USA there are about 10 cases per year, out of about 10 million people swimming in fresh water; let’s assume that 1% of swimmers get water in their nose and that’s a 1 in 10,000 chance)