KOZHIKODE: The condition of two patients under treatment for amoebic meningoencephalitis — a rare brain infection — at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital (MCH) is extremely critical. The two, both from Malappuram, are on ventilator support.
In the past eight days, three people admitted to the MCH died of the infection, raising concerns about the spread and severity of the disease.
Hospital authorities confirmed that special medicines, sourced even from abroad, are being administered to the patients. Currently, eight patients, including two children, are under treatment for the illness at Kozhikode MCH.
The infection has claimed four lives in the state so far this year. A nine-year-old girl from Thamarassery had succumbed to the illness on August 14 at the Kozhikode MCH. Two other patients died on September 1. Ratheesh, 45, a native of Bathery, Wayanad, passed away at the MCH on September 3.
So far, 43 cases have been reported across the state this year.
Only one patient has recovered from the infection caused by brain-eating ameoba. A17-year-old boy suffering from a simultaneous infection of amoebic meningoencephalitis and Aspergillus flavus has recovered from the disease.