Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills 5-Yr-Old Girl in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: A five-year-old girl died of amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain infection caused by an amoeba found in contaminated waters, in the Malappuram district of Kerala.

The child died on Monday night at the Kozhikode Medical College’s Institute of Maternal and Child Health. She was admitted there for over a week.

According to medical experts, this rare infection is caused when free-living, non-parasitic amoebae bacteria enter the body through the nose from contaminated water.

The girl took bath in a pond at her village on May 1. By May 10, she developed symptoms of fever, headache and vomiting. She did not respond to any medication and was on a ventilator. Other children who also took bath along with the girl in the same pond were under observation. They were discharged after being found to be free of infection.

This rare disease was earlier reported in coastal Alappuzha district in Kerala in 2017 and 2023.

The main symptoms of this fatal disease are fever, headache, vomiting, and seizures.