- A brain-eating amoeba is being blamed for the death of six boys and young men in Florida, Arizona, and Texas.

The Center for Disease Control said Friday that primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, is the cause of the 2007 deaths. The amoeba, called Naegleria fowleri, is the culprit of the condition and is found in warm water such as lakes, hot springs, ponds, and even dirty pools. It enters the body through the nose and attaches itself to the olfactory nerve, where it moves into the brain, feeding on brain cells

A 12-year-old Texas boy has become the sixth person this summer to die after swimming in water infested by microscopic amoeba. Jack Herrara was the second victim to die after his brain was attacked by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba in Texas, three of the other victims were in Florida and one was in Arizona.

Until this summer, there were only 24 known cases of the virus in the United States since 1989, the Associated Press reports