The Gemorah Gittin 56b talks about how Titus HaRasha was infected by an organism with only one opening (the יתוש), which entered his nostrils and literally ate his brain.
From Reuters
A dangerous amoeba that thrives in warm, freshwater bodies in the heat of summer caused the recent death of a 16-year-old Central Florida girl, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control confirmed on Monday.
The amoeba typically enters a swimmer's nose and invades the brain causing an almost always fatal infection, according to Jonathan Yoder, an epidemiologist at the CDC in Atlanta.
From Wikipedia
In humans, N. fowleri can invade the central nervous system via the nose, more specifically through the olfactory mucosa and cribriform plate of the nasal tissues. The penetration initially results in significant necrosis of and hemorrhaging in the olfactory bulbs. From there, the amoebae climbs along nerve fibers through the floor of the cranium via the cribriform plate and into the brain. The organism begins to consume cells of the brain piecemeal by means of a unique sucking apparatus extended from its cell surface. (Emphasis mine)
From Wikianswers
When a hungry Amoeba approaches to some food particle, it produces out its pseudopodia in the form of food cup which engulf the food particle by turning into food vacuole. the food also contain some water. this complete ingestion. the next step is digestion which is faciliated by the lysosomes. A few lysosomes surround the food vacuole and get fused with the membrane to discharge their enzymatic contents(proteases, amylases and lipases)into it. Hence the digestion is intacellular.
Although the young girl died, one can not help to think
Ma Rabu Ma'asecha Hashem!
RSS