Summer is when families are most at risk for brain-eating amoeba. Infections are rare, almost always deadly. How to go swimming but stay safe.

When conditions are favorable, the cysts turn into trophozoites -- the feeding form of the amoeba. Naegleria can't live in saltwater. It can't survive in properly treated swimming pools or in ...

A 3D illustration shows Cerebrospinal fluid smear containing trophozoites of brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri and neutrophils. Getty Images/iStockphoto “As air temperatures rise ...

Stock illustration of cerebrospinal fluid containing trophozoites of brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. This brain-eating amoeba is seeing increasing infections further north in the U.S. Stock ...

The amoeba lurks in pools ... According to the CDC, Naegleria fowleri has three stages in its life cycle: cyst, trophozoites and flagellated forms. It's only active in the trophozoite stage.