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Four die in Pakistan from deadly amoebic
infection
Sunday July 22, 2012 08:27:21 PM, IANS
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Islamabad: At least
four people have died in the port city of Karachi due to an
amoebic infection caused by a deadly waterborne organism called naegleria fowleri, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
All four deaths were caused by primary amoebic meningoencephalitis,
an official of the Sindh health department told Dawn News.
A team from the WHO's Disease Early Warning System (DEWS) visited
various government and private hospitals in the city to
investigate the situation.
Three people died at the Liaquat National Hospital while one died
at the Aga Khan University Hospital.
A microbiologist said it was not a new disease in Pakistan. The
first such case was detected in 2005, and there were 17 patients
in 2011.
Naegleria fowleri can invade and attack the human nervous system.
Such an infection nearly always results in death. The case
fatality rate is estimated at 98 percent.
Naegleria lives almost everywhere - in lakes, hot springs and
unclean swimming pools.
A media report said people become infected when they wade through
shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to
shoot up the nose, the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve.
The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain,
where it continues the damage, by feeding on the brain cells.
Infected people have a stiff neck, headaches and fevers. In the
later stages, they show signs of brain damage such as
hallucinations and behavioural changes.
Another microbiologist said the amoeba could not be detected from
contaminated stagnant freshwater, but only from the cerebrospinal
fluid culture.
Sources of the infection may be the main water reservoirs meant
for supplying water to Karachi, an expert said, and suggested
scrutiny of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board for 100 percent
chlorinated water supply to residents.
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