Know all about brain-eating amoeba infection that claimed 19 lives in Kerala

Exposure to contaminated water is a major reason for infection from a braineating amoeba that has claimed the lives of 19 people including children as young as three years old in Kerala said doctors calling for avoiding swimming in lakes and other water bodiesAmoebic meningitisis a rare but fatal central nervous system infection caused by freeliving amoebae Naegleria fowleri also known as the braineating amoeba found in freshwater lakes and riversKerala has recorded 61 confirmed cases of the brain infection and 19 deaths among patients ranging from a threemonthold infant to a 91yearoldldquoThe amoebiosis or amoebic meningitis is a rare disease which is very difficult to diagnose It is one of the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome AES where the diagnosis is very difficult There are no dedicated diagnostic techniques used almost all over the world to detect the conditionrdquo Dr TS Anish Professor and nodal officer Kerala One Health Centre for Nipah Research and Resilience in Kozhikode Government Medical College told IANSHowever the Nipah outbreak led to the development of a dedicated system that can diagnose as many AES cases as possible It demonstrated an increase in the cases of amoebic meningitis the expert saidHe blamed global warming and climate change for the rise in the number of infectionsldquoThermophilic organisms will definitely grow when the temperature of water bodies increases And there are pollution issues in our water bodiesrdquo Anish saidThe expert also informed that ldquothe death rate due to the disease is low in Kerala it is one of the lowest rates in amoebic meningitis reported all over the worldrdquoldquoAmoebic meningitis caused by Naegleria fowleri amoeba has a global death rate of somewhere around 97 to 98 per cent Any type of amoebic meningitis has a high death rate maybe up to 60 to 70 per cent but in Kerala it is almost only 20 per cent That may be because of the early detectionrdquo Anish saidNeurologist Dr Anshu Rohatgi from a leading citybased hospital linked the outbreak of the disease to ldquorapid urbanisation swimming in water which has not been disinfected or not been chlorinatedrdquoldquoThis Naegleria fowleri amoeba enters through the nasal spaces nasal airways and it goes into the brain and it causes an amoebic meningoencephalitisrdquo he saidAccording to the health experts the condition is completely treatable and curable if detected earlyldquoThis meningoencephalitis if it is not treated has a 100 per cent fatality But in Kerala because there is a high index of suspicion more and more cases are being diagnosed earlyrdquo added RohatgiRohatgi noted that the important point in identifying the infection is to do a lumbar puncture or a CSF Cerebrospinal Fluid examination a medical procedure in which a needle is inserted into the spinal canalFurther Anish said that the disease is not that rare but it is very rarely diagnosed in most parts of IndiaHe cited a study conducted at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research PGIMER in Chandigarh between 2014 and 2022 which investigated amoebic meningitis in a sample of 156 patients with suspected meningoencephalitisFreeliving amoebae FLA were detected by PCR in 11 of the 156 patient samplesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever