KARACHI: Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating infection, has claimed the first life of the current year in Karachi, sources said Friday.
Sources in the health department said the patient died of Naegleria has been identified as Zahid Khan, 30.
Sources added Zahid, resident of Baldia Town Karachi was admitted to a private hospital three days back.
Zahid is the first victim of Naegleria fowleri in the year 2016.
Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba found in freshwater, claimed 14 lives in Sindh in 2015, most of whom were residents of Karachi.
Doctors and health experts say Naegleria usually enters the brain and attacks the nervous system when infected water is ingested through the nasal cavity while bathing, swimming or making ablution.
The lethal amoeba survives on bacteria in warm waters and can only be decimated through proper chlorination or boiling of water.
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