Man dies covered in necrotic lesions after amoebas eat him alive

Photo: Acanthamoeba polyphaga. Photo credit: Janice Haney Carr, Catherine Armbruster; Margaret Williams, USCDCP on Pixnio. Public Domain. Article by Beth Mole. Ars Technica – May 1, 2026. Case report: Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Over the course of six months, black lesions and deep ulcers formed over the body of a 78-year-old man, puzzling doctors. His face was covered in dark scabs. A lesion had destroyed his left eyelid, and one had created a hole between the roof of his mouth and his nasal cavity. It wasn’t until he was transferred to a Yale School of Medicine hospital for higher-level care that doctors finally identified the cause of his ghastly affliction: a common free-living amoeba that can be found almost anywhere, including tap water. But by then, it was too late. […]

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