Brain-eating amoeba kills 18-year-old girl

Karachi
Water contaminated with Naegleria fowleri or the brain-eating bug has claimed another life in the city, health officials said on Tuesday.
The latest victim was an 18-year-old girl, who died at a private hospital due to deadly parasitic infection two days back.
Dr Zafar Mehdi, an official of the Sindh health department’s Naegleria fowleri monitoring committee, identified the victim as Sadaf, a resident of Orangi Town, who had been taken to Ziauddin Hospital in North Nazimabad with a high-grade fever.
“Initial examination of the ill-fated lady confirmed that she was infected with Naegleria fowleri, and after undergoing treatment for four days, she passed away on July 26,” he said.
According to the official, it was the third death due to Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis, the disease caused by the Naegleria fowleri parasite, which is found in freshwater lakes, rivers and canals, and enters the brain via nasal cavity when infected water is ingested.
Dr Mehdi accused the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) of supplying unchlorinated water to Karachiites despite repeated reminders and warnings to them, saying that in the absence of chlorine, the brain-eating bug could infect healthy persons and cause deaths. He noted that it was the 11th death caused by Naegleria fowleri in Sindh -- eight in Karachi, one in Thatta and two in the Hub Tehsil of Lasbela, Balochistan. All the patients died during treatment at hospitals in Karachi. According to the official, most of the water samples collected from different areas of the city by the health department indicated that chlorine was not present when the water reached end-consumers. He said most of the deaths due to the brain-eating bug took place in Orangi Town, DHA, Malir, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and the adjoining areas.
“Prevention is the only course of action left for consumers in Karachi, and people should use chlorine, which is available in the form of sodium hypochlorite as water disinfectant and use it in their overhead and underground water tanks to get rid of Naegleria fowleri and other harmful microorganisms,” he advised.