9-Year-Old Boy Dies As A Result Of Brain-eating Amoeba Infection, What's The Danger?

JAKARTA - A 9-year-old girl from Thamarassery, Kerala, India, died from a rare but very dangerous infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, or often called amoeba brain-eating.

According to a health authority report, the boy was hospitalized on August 13 after experiencing a fever. His condition worsened quickly so he was transferred to the Kozhikode Government Hospital on August 14, but died on the same day. The test results confirmed that he was infected with Primary Amobibic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), which was a brain infection caused by the amoeba.

This is the fourth case reported this year in Kozhikode district. Currently, a three-month-old baby and another patient are still being treated with the same infection," a Kerala health official said based on a local report, quoted from the Times of India website.

How Amoeba Brain Pemakakan Causes Death?

Naegleria opinion is a microscopic amoeba that lives in warm freshwater such as ponds, lakes, or rivers. Infection occurs when contaminated water enters the nose, for example while swimming or bathing.

From the nose, this amoeba moves through the sense of smell towards the brain. Once it reaches the brain, it destroys brain tissue and triggers severe swelling. This damage to brain tissue makes this disease almost always fatal.

After entering through the nose, N. fowleri travels to the brain through the sense of smell, destroys brain tissue and causes swelling, explained the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Symptoms That Are Difficult To Recognize From The Beginning

Brain-eating amoeba infections are very dangerous because the initial symptoms are similar to other diseases. Usually, symptoms appear within 37 days after infection, in the form of fever, headache, vomiting, hallucinations, confusion, seizures, and changes in the sense of smell or taste.

Because it is difficult to detect from an early age, the disease develops rapidly. According to the CDC, deaths usually occur in 5 days (straight 1 to 18 days) since the first symptoms emerged. That's why even though the cases are rare, the death toll from PAM has reached nearly 97 percent worldwide.

Since 2023, Kerala has recorded a significant increase in cases. If in the 2016'2022 period there were only 8 cases, in 2023 alone there were 36 infections and 9 deaths. To date, almost all cases in India have ended in death, except for one 14-year-old teenager at Kozhikode who managed to survive in July 2024. He became the first patient in India to survive this disease.

Kerala health authorities urge the public to be vigilant, especially during the rainy season. Several recommended preventive measures:

- Avoid swimming in inundated warm freshwater.

- Use clean water, filtered, or sterilized while cleaning the nose or doing sinus irrigation.

- Don't let water get into your nose while bathing in open water sources.

Investigations are still being carried out to track the source of the polluted water that may be the cause of this latest case.