Spurt in 'brain-eating' amoeba infections in Kerala; 8 confirmed cases, two deaths this year

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as amoebic meningoencephalitis is generally considered a very rare disease with hardly one or two cases being reported annually, Kerala is now witnessing a spurt with eight confirmed cases and two deaths so far this year.

While a conclusive reason for the source of the infection couldn't be figured out, contamination of water bodies due to unscientific garbage disposal, climate changes, increasing flow of migrant workers and even the enhanced diagnosis facilities are being considered responsible for the figures going up.

The lone relief for the state is that it could bring down the death rate to around 25 per cent while it is 97 per cent globally. Experts are stressing the urgent need to initiate research to find out the reason for the spurt in the cases in the state.

Amoebic meningoencephalitis is a rare brain infection caused by a free-living amoeba found in contaminated waters. It is commonly found in contaminated waters and mostly infects children.

However, among those infected in Kerala included many adults too and the infection was also found to be caused from well water rather than contaminated ponds.

All the three recent cases are from various parts of Kozhikode district. While a nine-year-old girl died last week, her two siblings are also showing symptoms. Another three-month-old child and a 49-year-old male were found to be infected and are under treatment. The deceased girl was found to be infected from a pond near her house and the 49-year-old man was found to have got infected from the water in his well at his house. The source of infection of the three-year-old child was yet to be traced.

WHO former technical officer Dr S S Lal points out that the general perceptions that the infection mostly affected children were being proved false and the actual sources of the infection couldn't be traced conclusively yet. Hence a detailed research to determine the variants was necessary.

The state government had earlier announced that research in collaboration with ICMR and the Indian Institute of Science would be carried out.

Kerala managed to bring down the death rate of the infection through early detection and preparation of a treatment protocol that involved the administration of Miltefosine medicine. . The first recovery from amoebic meningoencephalitis in Kerala was reported in July 2024.

Out of the 36 cases reported in the state in 2024, nine persons died whereas the two persons infected in 2023 had died.

Dr. Lal said that the key strength of the state's health system should be surveillance at the grassroot level. "We do have a system that provides two health workers for every 5,000 people. But how effective they are now is a matter of question. The key issue is too much political and bureaucratic interventions that prevent experienced doctors from performing their duties freely," he said.