Amoebic infection claims another life in Kerala, 14-year-old boy dies

KOZHIKODE: Another child has died of amoebic meningoencephalitis in Kerala. He has been identified as Mridul (14), a resident of Feroke in Kozhikode. He died last night while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kozhikode. He was admitted in the hospital on June 24 with symptoms. The child developed symptoms after taking a bath in the pond of the 5th ward of Ramanattukara municipality. He is the third child to contract the rare amoebic infection in two months.

What is amoebic meningoencephalitis?
Amoebic meningoencephalitis is a very rare infection in people coming in contact with stagnant or running water sources. There are very few scientific studies and study results about this rare disease. Statistics indicate that only 2.6 percent of the world's 1 million people suffer from this disease.

The disease usually occurs when Naegleria fowleri, a type of amoeba, infects the brain. This disease is not transmitted from humans. The amoeba that lives in stagnant water enters the human body through the thin skin of the nose and causes encephalitis, which seriously affects the brain. Free-living amoebas are generally found in stagnant water bodies. The germs enter the human body through the fine pores in the nose by bathing in streams or pools.