Deaths in Kerala spark concern over brain-eating amoeba threat

However, the recent instances of fatalities of 3 children due to brain-eating amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) in Kerala is not only shocking but also a wake-up call for all to understand the ailment better and learn about preventive aspects of the ailment.

Hyderabad: The single-celled amoeba is often taught in our classrooms as a harmless organism that usually causes dysentery (amoebiasis) and can be treated by anti-parasitics.

However, the recent instances of fatalities of 3 children due to brain-eating amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) in Kerala is not only shocking but also a wake-up call for all to understand the ailment better and learn about preventive aspects of the ailment.

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In all the three fatalities of children in Kerala, the local public health officials have reported that the kids have taken-bath or indulged in fun activities in local water bodies. The Naegleria fowleri, the single-celled amoeba, is known to thrive in warm freshwater lakes and rivers. Sometimes, such amoeba is also found in tap water, which should be a cause of concern for individual households.

It is often described as brain eating amoeba because it infects the brain and has the ability to destroy the brain tissue. Once the brain is infected by Naegleria fowleri, (which is rare), then it is always fatal, according to Centres for Disease Control (CDC), United States.

Based on Indian studies, the brain eating amoeba enters into human beings through the nose and directly travels to the brain and causes an infection called as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

PAM is acute and severe and is necrotizing, which means it causes irreversible necrosis or the death of the brain tissue. The brain infection progresses rapidly and most people die within 1 to 18 days after symptoms begin. Usually, the infection causes coma and death in 5-days.

“This pathogen is believed to gain entry into the central nervous system (CNS) via the nasal passages. In CNS, the pathogen brings about the changes that are characterized by fever, severe headache, neck stiffness, altered sensorium, seizures and coma with most patients dying expeditiously from increased intracranial pressure. Only about 5 percent of patients survive as it is almost always fatal,” an Indian study by researchers from AIIMS, (Elsevier, European Journal of Protistology, October, 2020) said.

The CDC on the disease said “Brain infections caused by Naegleria fowleri usually occur after someone goes swimming or diving in a lake, river, or other fresh water during summer months. Infections often happen when it’s been hot for long periods, resulting in higher water temperatures and lower water levels”.

· Naegleria fowleri is known as brain-eating amoeba because it kills brain tissue

· Is found in lakes, ponds and warm water bodies even poorly maintained swimming pools

· Gains entry through nose and travels to the human brain to cause meningoencephalitis

· Causes headaches, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, confusion, hallucinations, loss of balance

· Once infected with meningoencephalitis, within 5 days the individual dies

· If water with the amoeba is swallowed through mouth, brain infection won’t happen

Prevention and treatment:

· Hold your nose or wear a nose clip while jumping or diving into lakes, ponds etc

· In shallow waters, chances of amoeba is more likely

· Amoeba destroys brain tissue and causes brain to swell

· More than 97 percent of the infected people die from infection