Brain-eating amoeba scare grips Kerala

OFFICIALS RACE TO CONTAIN RARE BRAIN INFECTION AFTER 17 DEATHS

- BY STEPHEN N R

Kerala is facing a dangerous health scare with a sudden spike in Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rare but deadly brain infection caused by the so-called "brain-eating amoeba" Naegleria fowleri.

In the past nine months, 17 people have died — among them a three-month-old infant, a nine-year-old girl, and a 52-year-old woman in Kozhikode last month.

Seven deaths were reported in September alone, and several active cases are still under treatment in hospitals across districts.

Health officials are increasingly alarmed because recent infections have defied earlier assumptions. The disease was long believed to affect only those who swam or bathed in ponds, lakes or pools where contaminated water could enter the nose.