With the death of a 39-year-old woman on Sunday, February 23, one more case of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rare brain disease, has been reported in Kerala, this time from Kozhikode. The disease, a dreaded brain infection that is known to kill more than 90% of those affected, had an unusual number of occurrences in the state last year, with 19 reported cases, out of which 14 people survived with the help of timely treatment.
Known to mostly infect children and in rare cases young people in their 20s, the occurrence of PAM in older people, including the recent case of the 39-year-old woman, has been a cause for alarm. Guidelines issued by the state’s health department in the wake of the unusual surge required the testing of all cases showing symptoms of meningitis, like headache, vomiting, and fever. The woman was admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital in the first week of February, by which time she had already had the symptoms for two weeks. In case of PAM infections, it is important to begin treatment as early as possible to increase chances of survival.
Amoebic meningoencephalitis is a brain infection caused by free-living amoeba found in freshwater, soil, sewage, and unchlorinated swimming pools. Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, is caused by an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri. What makes the disease so rare is that only one in 26 lakh people who come in contact with amoeba-infested water gets infected by it.
Pre-existing health conditions can also reduce the chances of recovery in PAM patients. In the case of a 27-year-old man from Thiruvananthapuram who died of the disease in July last year, there was a history of brain surgery and cardiac arrest. However, the cases that followed his in Thiruvananthapuram were diagnosed early and treated, leading to survival rates defying the fatality rate of the disease world over.
It was in May 2024 that the first case of a child with PAM was reported in the state last year, in Kozhikode. Within two months, four more children were infected in different parts of the state. Of the five cases, two children survived.
