Occurrence of Naegleria fowleri and their implication for health- a look under the One Health approaches

One Health approaches are becoming increasingly necessary in the world we live in. Human beings, animals, plants and the environment are intrinsically interconnected and when some intervention occurs, mainly through the action of man himself, everyone suffers the consequences. The objective of this review was to collect data about the occurrence and dispersion of Naegleria fowleri, an amphizoic free-living amoeba, and its implications for health approaches through the One Health concept. N. fowleri is an opportunistic amoeba, better known as brain-eating amoeba, which causes Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis. This amoeba is widely distributed around the world, being isolated from different matrices of natural or anthropogenic environments with tem-peratures above 30 degrees C with an upper limit of 45-46 degrees C. Highly lethal, it has claimed numerous humans patients and only five people have survived the disease so far. Our results indicate that climate change plays a major role in the growth and dispersion of the pathogen in the environment, causing damage to humans and animals. Changes in temperature, antimicrobial resistance, possible transport of other microorganisms by the amoeba, conventional treatments with chlorination, among others, were addressed in our study and should be considered in order to raise questions and possible solutions to this problem that involves health as a whole. The diagnostic methods, prospection of new anti-Naegleria drugs and the control of this parasite in the environment are specific and urgent issues. We know that the human-animal-plants-environment spheres are inseparable, so it is necessary to turn a directed look at the One Health approaches related to N. fowleri.