Karachi reports 10th death from ‘brain-eating amoeba’ this year

KARACHI: A 22-year-old student passed away after contracting Naegleria fowleri disease in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Sunday, the DG Health Services in Sindh said late Monday, making it the 10th casualty of the microorganism this year.
Naegleria fowleri, popularly known as the “brain-eating amoeba,” is found in freshwater habitats — lakes, ponds, rivers, hot springs — and poorly managed swimming pools and pipes connected to tap water. The microorganism can enter the human body through the nose and cause a sudden infection of the brain called naegleriasis. In most cases, the infection is fatal.
Muhammad Arsal Baig, a resident of the city’s North Karachi area, was brought to a private hospital on Oct. 27 after he suffered from bouts of fever, headaches and vomiting, a report by the DG Health Services Sindh’s office said.
On Friday, the patient was admitted to the ICU and intubated after he suffered from an “altered level of consciousness” and started frothing at the mouth. His PCR test for Naegleria fowleri reported a positive result, the report stated.
“There is an urgent need to assess the process of chlorination and level of chlorine in water at all the major water reservoirs supplying water as per WHO recommendation,” the report recommended.
It said authorities had directed the town surveillance coordinator to collect water samples of the area for a lab investigation.
On Oct. 21, a 45-year-old shopkeeper who was also a resident of North Karachi, passed away from the disease. The Sindh Health Department concluded the victim had gotten infected while he performed ablution at his office.
The brain-eating amoeba is a relatively new problem in Pakistan, where the first case was recorded in Karachi in 2008. The infection has since killed over 100 people in the city, including at least 47 in the past six years, according to data from the Sindh health Department’s Naegleria monitoring and inspection team.