KARACHI: A 29-year-old man from Karachi’s Rafa-i-Aam Society was confirmed as the latest victim of the ‘brain-eating amoeba’, or Naegleria fowleri, as the toll because of the deadly virus reached seven within three months in Sindh, officials said on Wednesday.

Officials said Adil Najam had been admitted to hospital in a precarious condition where he died on Wednesday.

Officials said the man worked as an assistant at a petrol station along Hub River Road and was an honorary imam in an area mosque.

“He was the seventh victim of naegleria this year in Sindh. Six deaths have been reported in Karachi and another in Hyderabad,” said Dr Zafar Ijaz, executive district officer of health, Karachi, while speaking to Dawn.

Know more: Naegleria’s spread out of Karachi worries health dept

“We have taken samples of water from his house and workplace,” he added.

The deadly amoeba claimed its youngest victim — a nine-month-old girl — last month. A four-year-old boy was previously the youngest, who died in 2012.

The first death this year was reported on May 27 in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2014