A researcher in the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Comparative Pathobiology has received a generous gift of more than $100,000 from the Jordan Smelski Foundation for Amoeba Awareness and Mr. Steve Smelski to support research of the deadly amoeba Naegleria fowleri. Christopher Rice, PhD, assistant professor of parasitology and principal investigator of the Rice Research Group, leads a research team seeking to discover and repurpose drugs against primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rare but typically fatal infection caused by Naegleria fowleri.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) only a few people are diagnosed with PAM in the United States each year, but even though these infections are treated with a cocktail of medicines, 98% of patients don’t survive. The Naegleria fowleri amoeba, which also is referred to as the “brain-eating amoeba,” lives in warm fresh water and soil and, as a single-celled living organism, can only be seen with a microscope. Infections can occur when people swim or submerge their heads in fresh or brackish water like lakes, ponds, or rivers, or have been linked to the use of contaminated tap water and neti pots for sinus rinsing and nasal ablution.
The Rice Research Group seeks to develop new anti-amoebic therapeutics for use in the critical care of patients with various neglected diseases mainly caused by pathogenic free-living amoeba. The funding from the Jordan Smelski Foundation for Amoeba Awareness will further the Rice Research Group’s drug repurposing efforts.
The mission of the Jordan Smelski Foundation is to spread global awareness about the risks associated with amoeba in fresh water and to foster education for families and medical communities about PAM disease. The foundation was established in loving memory of Jordan Cole Smelski who passed away from PAM in 2014 at the age of 11 – just seven-and-a-half days after swimming and being exposed to the amoeba. The foundation’s support comes from fundraising efforts, including an annual golf tournament in memory of Jordan, which will be held this year on November 7 at the Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.
“Though the diseases caused by these amoeba are perceived to be rarer than the positively diagnosed patients each year, the stories of the victims are terribly tragic and heart-wrenching, with only about two percent success in treating them,” Rice said. “With two more fatal cases in the past two months, and with Jordan’s case being the first fatal case of PAM I heard of when I initially started researching Naegleria fowleri drug discovery, this will always hold a special place in my heart, motivating me to always do more and strive for excellence in a neglected, rare, and forgotten field. This is what makes this generous support from the Jordan Smelski Foundation for Amoeba Awareness all the more meaningful and precious. As Steve Smelski says, ‘It’s only rare until it happens to you or your family.’ With this help, we will be able to further energize our research as we continue to work tirelessly to discover and develop better and targeted amoeba therapeutics.”
