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LiveScience
LiveScience
Emily Cooke

Can you get a brain-eating amoeba from tap water?

Brain Live Science William Schaffner
Water is pouring out of a silver tap into a glass, which is already almost full with water. A person's hand is shown as they hold the glass under the tap.

Brain-eating-amoeba infections are extremely rare, but when they do strike, they are almost always deadly, killing around 97% of victims. 

Such infections are caused by free-living amoebas, such as Naegleria fowleri, which usually lives in soil and warm fresh water, such as lakes, ponds and hot springs. 

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