Five-Year-Old Girl Dies By Amoeba, A Rare Infection Connected To Bathing In Contaminated Water

A five-year-old girl hailing from Malappuram”s Moonniyur Panchayat in Kerala died on Monday night due to a rare brain infection. The girl was undergoing treatment at the Kozhikode government medical college for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). The condition is caused by a free-living amoeba commonly found in contaminated waters. Fadva, daughter of Padinjarepeediyekkal Hassan Kutty and Fasna, had been on ventilator support for the past week.

The medical experts say that the infection happens when free-living, non-parasitic amoebae bacteria enter the body. This usually happens in contaminated water. The disease often comes from bathing or swimming in polluted water. The symptoms of the infections are fever, headache, vomiting, and seizures.

Notably, the girl took a bath in the Munniyur River on May 1 with relatives. By May 10, the girl reportedly showed symptoms of fever, headache, and vomiting. Other children who also took baths along with the deceased girl in the same river have been put under observation. They were later discharged after the doctors confirmed that they were free from the infection.

The girl was on ventilator support, and the doctors were treating her with a combination of different drugs while she was not responding to the medications. The funeral of the girl will be held at Kadavath Juma Masjid on Tuesday.

Similar infections were reported earlier in Alappuzha in 2016 and 2023. In 2023, a 15-year-old boy died of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis at Panavally in Alappuzha. The boy also used to take a bath in a pond next to his home, suspecting the potential source of the infection. In 2016, the disease was reported in the Alappuzha municipality region. In March and December 2022, a man from Florida and an elderly man from South Korea succumbed to the infection, respectively.

Warm water temperatures, especially during the summer months, create favorable conditions for the amoeba’s growth, Indian Express reports, citing Dr. PN Renjen, Senior Consultant, Neurology, at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi.