Medicinal plant-derived compound destroys brain-eating amoeba in lab studies
Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a deadly disease caused by the brain-eating amoeba
Naegleria fowleri, is becoming more common in some areas of the world, and it has no effective treatment. Now, researchers reporting in
ACS Chemical Neuroscience have found that a compound isolated from the leaves of a traditional medicinal plant,
Inula viscosa or false yellowhead, kills the amoebae by causing them to commit cell suicide in lab studies, which could lead to new treatments.
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PAM, characterized by headache, fever, vomiting, hallucinations and seizures, is almost always fatal within a couple of weeks of developing symptoms. Although the disease, which is usually contracted by swimming in contaminated freshwater, is rare, increasing cases have been reported recently in the U.S., the Philippines, southern Brazil and some Asian countries.