The child is currently undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital and is said to be in critical condition.
Published Jul 20, 2024 | 1:52 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 28, 2025 | 7:57 PM
Brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. (iStock)
Another child has been admitted to a hospital in Kozhikode with the symptoms of amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain infection caused by a free-living amoeba found in contaminated waters.
The child, a resident of Kannur, was taken to the hospital after complaining of severe headache, fever, and vomiting.
Initial tests revealed that the child was suffering from the rare brain infection caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba.
The child is currently undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital and is said to be in critical condition.
Health officials have confirmed that the child had recently gone for a swim in a local waterfall at Thaliparambu, which is believed to be the source of the infection.
Amebic meningoencephalitis is a rare but deadly infection that has a high mortality rate. The infection occurs when the Naegleria fowleri amoeba enters the body through the nasal cavity and travels to the brain, causing severe inflammation and damage.
This is the sixth case reported from Kerala since May, and all the patients are children, three of whom have already died.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday, 5 July, held a meeting in which several suggestions, including not to bathe in unclean waterbodies, were given to prevent further infections.
In the meeting, it was also suggested that there should be proper chlorination of swimming pools and children should be careful when entering water bodies as they are mostly affected by this disease, the statement said.
In the meeting, also attended by state Health Minister Veena George and various senior government officials including Chief Secretary Dr Venu V, it was also suggested that there should be proper chlorination of swimming pools and children should be careful when entering water bodies as they are mostly affected by this disease, the statement said.
Using swimming nose clips to prevent infection by the free-living amoeba was also suggested in the meeting.
The chief minister also said that everyone should take care to keep the water bodies clean.
Medical experts said the infection occurs when free-living, non-parasitic amoebae bacteria enter the body through the nose from contaminated water.
On Wednesday, 3 July, a 14-year-old boy infected with the free-living amoeba died in Kozhikode.
On 25 June it was confirmed that a 13-year-old girl, from Kannur, who succumbed at a private hospital in Kozhikode was infected with a rare variety of free-living amoeba.
The amoeba might have entered her body from a swimming pool that she accessed while on a tour from school on 28 January.
Before that, on 21 May, a five-year-old child who was undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, for amoebic meningoencephalitis also lost her life.
The child, a native of Kaliyattamukku in the Mooniyoor grama panchayath of the Malappuram district, is suspected to have been infected with the amoeba after she swam along with her relatives in the nearby Kadalundi River.
Health authorities on Friday, 28 June, reported that a 12-year-old boy from Irumooliparamabu, near Farook College, has been infected by the disease.
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
