1 dead, 2 critical: Brain-eating amoeba puts Kerala on alert; authorities trace source to contaminated well

KOZHIKODE: Brain-eating amoeba. A phrase that sounds like zombie fiction is stalking Kozhikode district this monsoon. A nine-year-old is dead. A three-month-old baby lies in critical condition.

Another patient, a 40-year-old man, fights for his life.The killer is microscopic. It thrives in warm, stagnant water - lakes, rivers, wells, swimming pools with poor chlorination. The parasite Naegleria fowleri slips in with a splash of water up the nose, travels silently past the sinuses to the brain, and feeds on its tissue."Though mortality is very high, it does not spread between people," district medical officer Dr K K Rajaram said in a press note.

The amoeba is free-living, not contagious.The state's first case was detected after the baby from Omassery, admitted on Aug 4 to Kozhikode Govt Medical College, tested positive. "The condition of the baby is critical," Dr Arunpreet, superintendent at Institute of Maternal and Child Health, said Monday.But the alarm rose after Aug 14, when class 4 student Anaya Sanoop from Thamarassery died of fever complications. District surveillance officer Dr Manoj said amoeba was detected in water from the well attached to the baby's home. "The family has been asked to use another well for now, and chlorination is being done in the area," he said.