Personally I think they are new to us. I'm guessing climate change has brought them out of some type of hibernation, mutations caused by elements in the environment or bugs that got out of a lab somewhere.
 
ie. "Legionnaires' disease acquired its name in July 1976, when an outbreak of pneumonia occurred among people attending a convention of the American Legion at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Of the 182 reported cases, mostly men, 29 died.[33] On January 18, 1977, the causative agent was identified as a previously unknown strain of bacteria, subsequently named Legionella, and the species that caused the outbreak was named Legionella pneumophila."

I think it's all very clear: the amoebas and bugs were bitten by little tiny amoeba and bug zombies and have developed an appetite for human flesh. Or perhaps all the little buggies have been watching The Walking Dead too much and are trying to ape the behavior of the antagonists in that series in an effort to take over the world. Or maybe some self-actualizing germs are trying to take a shortcut, shaving off millions of years, evolving into humans. Remember: you are what you eat.

 
Seriously though, don't you think it's just media overload? I do remember occasional stories like this from my childhood, but if Kim Kardashian can get media coverage for, well, just getting media coverage, doesn't it follow that stories that were considered on the negative end of the human interest continuum might get more coverage as well? I'm voting for the "modern media" angle.

 
 

Sharke,  It happened AGAIN!!!!!!
 
 
http://www.cnn.com/2016/0...-killed-ohio-teenager/

Now I know what happened to my bran brane braan gray madder!
 
 
Why won't my FaderPort work with the forum?  I need more grape juice

Now if the Kardashians were all consumed by these amoeba bugs who, afterwards, got indigestion and died, that would be news I'd actually be interested in hearing.

eph221
Sharke,  It happened AGAIN!!!!!!
 
 
http://www.cnn.com/2016/0...-killed-ohio-teenager/

I'm pretty sure that's the story that prompted me to wonder wtf was going on with all the amoebas in the first place.

This thread is turning into a Monty Python sketch?

Like this?
 

eph221
With the combination of a butterfly effect and widespread media...we now have instant coverage of the butterfly flapping it's wings.   The paradox is:  that with all of our media and watching the butterfly, everything must happen for a reason.  Yet at the same time nature defies this with randomness and chaos.  

I keep thinking the media is the worse of the two!

So we're talking about a mashup between
 

 
and
 

 
ya?