Flushing Nose With Water Can Cause Brain Infection

In the middle of August this year, a nine-year-old girl from Thamarassery in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, was admitted to a local hospital with a fever and later shifted to the Government Medical College in Kozhikode as her health deteriorated.

- ANNA JOSE @Kochi

But nothing could save her. Tests revealed she was affected by amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare condition. She had died from an infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, also known as the brain-eating amoeba. Kerala has reported 19 cases this year, with eight of them reported in August in Northern Kerala. This includes a three-month-old infant from Omassery in Kozhikode, who remains in critical condition.

Amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare central nervous system infection, is caused by free-living amoebae found in freshwater, lakes, and rivers. It develops several days after exposure to the contaminated water source and may cause death within one or two weeks of infection, mostly because of rapid onset and delayed diagnosis.