Unidentified stencil tag, nr. Barbican, 2007
A Thousand Little Obstacles
Have you ever heard the name Naegleria fowleri?
In the United States last year this tiny organism caused the deaths of six teenaged children, all of whom did nothing more than go for a swim. N. fowleri, to use it’s street name, is a tiny algae that grows on the bottom of still, stagnant waters across the world. It thrives in warm environments, ideally between 25-37degrees centigrade, and largely sits dormant in the depths.
When the algae is disturbed however, by a splash into a pond made by a leaping teenager for example, it clings onto living organisms like a vice. This isn’t normally a problem, the body has enough defense mechanisms to cope with it, but if it weasels its way onto a nerve ending then you could be in trouble. Cases of human infection have seen the algae latch onto the olfactory nerve, which causes advances necrosis and haemorrhaging of the olfactory bulbs, leading to the patient experiencing difficulty in tasting and smelling before suffering nose-bleeds. It then makes its way up the nerve fibers, popping into the base of the cranium to reproduce unhindered, literally eating the brain away in the process. At this stage it is fatal in 100% of cases, with only limited success during earlier stages in slowing the organism if it is correctly identified. This is difficult: postmortem examinations were the only thing which correctly discovered N. fowleri was the cause of last year’s fatalities.
You see, the world is filled with a thousand little obstacles, eager to make a fucking mess of you without any effort necessary on your part whatsoever. Sometimes, wanting to leave something pretty behind is about the only sane response. So, go and buy a can of spray-paint while you can.
And, if you’re swimming, wear nose-plugs.
© Matthew Sheret, 2008
