Nine Deaths In 22 Days: Kerala Battles Its Deadliest Amoebic Encephalitis Outbreak
Kerala is in the grip of an alarming health crisis as the state confronts its worst-ever outbreak of amoebic meningoencephalitis, with nine deaths reported in just 22 days.
The sudden spike in cases has left health officials scrambling for answers, as the source of the deadly infection remains unidentified.
The latest victim, a 58-year-old woman named Sarasu from Kozhikode’s Thurayoor, died on Saturday at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital after battling the infection for nearly a month.
Two more patients are currently undergoing treatment at the same hospital, raising fresh concerns about the spread and severity of the disease.
Amoebic meningoencephalitis, caused by free-living amoebae such as Naegleria fowleri, is one of the most fatal brain infections known to science.
The organism typically enters the body through the nose when a person swims or dives in contaminated freshwater. Once inside, it travels rapidly to the brain, causing inflammation, tissue destruction, and often death.
The infection can manifest as Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) or the slower-progressing Granulomatous Amoebic Encephalitis (GAE).
Kerala has witnessed a sharp rise in cases over the past year. Health department data shows that 17 confirmed cases were recorded in November alone, resulting in seven deaths.
So far in 2025, the state has reported 170 confirmed infections and 40 fatalities, marking the largest outbreak in India’s history.
Experts say the outbreak is being driven by a dangerous combination of factors, rising temperatures, poorly chlorinated water sources, and widespread coliform contamination, all of which have expanded the environmental reservoir of deadly amoebae.
Climate change, they warn, is accelerating a shift in waterborne disease patterns across the region.
Despite the grim numbers, Kerala has introduced rapid PCR-based diagnostic methods to detect infections earlier, allowing doctors to begin aggressive multidrug treatments faster.
Drugs like miltefosine have shown some promise, bringing the fatality rate, though still staggering, down to around 75 per cent. Survival stories, while rare, have offered a glimmer of hope to anxious families.
The emotional and social fallout of the crisis is also being felt across the state. In October, a tragic misunderstanding led to a violent incident in Thamarassery, where the father of a nine-year-old girl attacked a doctor, believing his daughter had died from amoebic encephalitis.
An autopsy later confirmed complications from a flu virus, not the amoebic infection.
Even as Kerala’s health system works around the clock, officials admit that not knowing the exact source of contamination poses the most serious challenge.
