Meningoencephalitis claims two lives in Kerala: officials

• Unhygienic water, mercury rise may be behind ‘brain-eating amoeba’ disease in Kerala

Highlights:

• Unhygienic and stagnant water resources and high temperatures could be the factors contributing to the recent unusual rise in the rare, but fatal primary amoebic meningoencephalitis cases in the State.
• First detected in Alappuzha municipality in 2016, the infection was reported in Malappuram in 2019 and 2020, Kozhikode in 2020, Thrissur in 2022, and in Alappuzha in 2023.
• There has been a rise in such cases the world over. Warming of the atmosphere and stagnant and unhygienic water resources could be some of the conditions leading to it.
• This type of amoeba is found to be more active in warm water.
• This infection is caused by Naegleria fowleri, also called ‘brain-eating amoeba’, which lives in fresh warm water, such as lakes and rivers.
• The amoeba infects people when it enters their body through the nose. It travels up to the brain and destroys the tissues and results in its swelling.

Prelims Takeaway

• Naegleria fowleri
• amoebic meningoencephalitis