Man in critical condition after infected by brain-eating amoeba

A day after an elderly person died due to brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as brain-eating bug, in Karachi, the health authorities on Monday said a 30-year old man was in critical condition at a private hospital due to primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by Naegleria fowleri.

“A 30-year-old person, identified as Sarang Ali, a resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar is in critical condition at the Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) Karachi due to brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri,” an official of the Sindh health department told The News on Monday.

The official claimed that PAM was almost 100 per cent fatal disease, and added that there were little chances for a person infected by Naegleria fowleri to survive the disease.

A day earlier, the health department official had confirmed that a 59-year-old man, Afzal Hussain, resident of Keamari, had died due to the brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, a pathogen found in water. It was the first Naegleria death in the city in 2022.

The health authorities said that since 2011, around 90 people died due to PAM caused by Naegerlia fowleri in Karachi. They added that overhead and underground water tanks in the city had become reservoirs for the miscroscopic organism causing the deadly disease.

Naegleria fowleri can be killed by chlorinating water but the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board has failed to properly chlorinate water before supplying it to houses.