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The Independent

Nine-year-old dies from rare infection caused by ‘brain-eating amoeba'

A nine-year-old girl in southern India died from a rare and often fatal infection caused by the 'brain-eating amoeba', local health authorities confirmed. The child from Thamarassery in Kerala 's Kozhikode was admitted to a local hospital on 13 August with fever. Her condition deteriorated rapidly and she was moved to the Kozhikode Government Medical College, where she died. Tests done at the hospital later confirmed that she had contracted primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. She was one of three people in the district afflicted by the disease, local health officials said, adding that a three-month-old and another person were currently battling the infection. 'We are clueless about how the three-month-old baby got infected by the rare disease,' a health official told The Indian Express. The disease is caused by Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as the 'brain-eating amoeba '. A free-living microorganism found in warm freshwater and soil, it can enter the body through contaminated water or soil. It travels to the brain and destroys tissue. Symptoms appear within days and lead quickly to seizures, coma and death. Health officials are attempting to trace the specific water source linked to the Thamarassery case. 'Once the water body is identified, we will look for those who may have bathed in it recently,' an official told the PTI news agency. Globally, amoebic meningoencephalitis shows a fatality rate of almost 97 per cent. India reported its first case in 1971, but infections remained rare until Kerala witnessed a sharp rise in recent years. The coastal state recorded only eight cases from 2016 to 2022, but confirmed 36 infections and nine deaths in 2023. Every known case in India until last year had been fatal. In July 2024, a 14-year-old boy from Kozhikode became the first patient in the South Asian country to survive the infection, joining just 10 other known survivors worldwide. Public health experts attribute the spike in Kerala to greater testing for acute encephalitis syndrome – a group of conditions that includes amoebic meningoencephalitis – as well as environmental pollution and climate change. Kerala's government has introduced special treatment protocols and operating procedures for suspected cases. Doctors say awareness and prevention remain the most effective defences against the illness. They advise against going into stagnant warm freshwater, particularly after heavy rainfall, and recommend using clean, filtered water for nasal irrigation.