A 12-year-old boy from Feroke who had been undergoing treatment for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis at a private hospital in Kozhikode city in Kerala died on July 4 night.
This is the third death due to the a rare and fatal infection in the past two months in Kerala.
Bathed in pond
According to sources, E.P. Mridul, son of E.P. Ajith Prasad and Jyothi, was a Class VII student of Farook Higher Secondary School. He was first taken to the government taluk hospital at Feroke after he complained of headache and vomiting last month. Mridul had taken bath in a local pond near the Farook College earlier.
He was later referred to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, and then to the private hospital. Mridul had been in a critical condition since June 24.
V. Dakshina, 13, of Kannur died of a similar infection at a private hospital in Kozhikode on June 12. Fadva, 5, of Munniyur in Malappuram, died at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, on May 20.
The Kerala Health department is planning to issue special guidelines for the treatment of the infection against the backdrop of these deaths.
Disease symptoms
The infection is caused by Naegleria fowleri, also called ‘brain-eating amoeba’, which lives in fresh warm water, such as lakes and rivers. The amoeba infects people when it enters their body through the nose. It travels up to the brain from the nose, where it destroys the brain tissues and results in its swelling. The symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, altered mental status, and seizures.
The Health department has advised children who have infection in the ear not to take bath in ponds or in stagnated water. Directions have been given to regularly chlorinate water in swimming pools and water theme parks.
