SOCIAL – HEALTH
2 SEPTEMBER 2025
- Two more people, included a three-month-old infant, lost their lives to amoebic meningoencephalitis in Kozhikode district of Kerala
- The infant is suspected to have contracted the disease from the well water used at home.
- The ‘brain-eating amoeba,’ enters the human body through the nose from contaminated water, while bathing or swimming.
- The common symptoms of the infection are fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, experienced within five to 10 days of contracting it.
- It is caused by Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that thrives in warm freshwater like lakes and rivers.
- There are two variants of the infection, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE), the latter being the one reported in Kerala now.
- The mortality rate is normally 95%.
