KARACHI: The city health authorities on Wednesday confirmed that a young man had been admitted to a private hospital suffering from a brain infection called naegleriasis, also known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as ‘brain-eating’ amoeba.

“Twenty-six-year-old Taazeem Abbas, a resident of Malir, has been brought to a private hospital and tests on him have confirmed that he is infected by the deadly germ,” said Dr Zafar Mehdi, head of the provincial government’s committee to curb Naegleria.

He said the young man was brought to the hospital on Monday in a critical condition. Experts said the fatality rate of the lethal disease was 98 per cent.

Two patients of the disease have died in less than two months.

Early this month, a teenage girl fell victim to the amoeba. Less than a month before a 40-year-old man, resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, was its first victim.

The officials in the health ministry said the single-cell microorganism had killed six people last year.
Chlorination of water is the key method to kill the germ and keep the deadly disease at bay.

Another way is to use boiled water while cleaning nose as the germ enters through the nasal cavity of its victim and attacks the brain.

Officials said most neighbourhoods of the city were being supplied with water that was not chlorinated at all. The situation in other districts of Sindh was even worse.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018