KOZHIKODE: Amoebic meningoencephalitis has been confirmed in a three-and-a-half-year-old boy from Kannur, taking the total number of cases reported in the state to five. The boy from Pariyaram is under treatment at a private hospital in Kozhikode. The rare brain infection was confirmed in a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test conducted in Puducherry on Thursday.
The boy from Pariyaram was first taken to the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital after he exhibited symptoms consistent with the brain infection. He was shifted to a private hospital in Kozhikode. It is learnt his family had visited the Karakkund waterfall in Kadannappally-Panapuzha panchayat prior to him falling ill.
Meanwhile, the PCR test result of a four-year-old boy from Kozhikode is awaited. Preliminary tests done at the hospital showed he too was infected with Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that is commonly found in freshwater lakes and ponds and can survive in inadequately chlorinated pools. However, the authorities are waiting to get confirmation from Puducherry.
So far, the brain-eating amoeba has killed three – a five-year-old girl in Malappuram, a 13-year-old girl in Kannur and a 14-year-old boy from Kozhikode – since May. Earlier this month, 14-year-old boy Afnan Jasim from Kozhikode made a miraculous recovery from the disease, which carries a 97 per cent mortality rate.
Dr Abdul Rauf, a paediatric critical care specialist at Baby Memorial Hospital, emphasised the significance of early diagnosis in combating the deadly infection. Highlighting the case of Afnan, one of 11 people in the world to have survived Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis, as a testament to the efficacy of early detection. “Early diagnosis is crucial in saving children from the deadly infection. The three-and-a-half-year-old boy from Kannur is responding well to treatment. The four-year-old boy, admitted a week ago, has shown positive results in initial tests, and treatment has commenced. He too is responding well,” Dr Rauf said.