A five-year-old girl from Kerala met her tragic end after swimming in a pond that contained harmful pathogens. The girl reportedly contracted a rare brain infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba found in dirty water.
As per a report by PTI, the girl fell victim to amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain disease triggered by a free-living amoeba commonly found in polluted water sources. The incident took place in Malappuram district, where the girl, a resident of Moonniyur panchayat, passed away on Monday night at the Institute of Maternal and Child Health in Kozhikode Medical College, after battling the disease for more than a week.
Medical experts reached the conclusion that anyone contracts the infection when amoebae bacteria, present in contaminated water bodies, infiltrate the body through the nasal passages. Following her swim in the nearby pond on May 1, the girl began showing symptoms like fever, headache, and vomiting by May 10, according to PTI sources.
Despite receiving intensive medical care and being placed on a ventilator, the child failed to respond to treatment, ultimately succumbing to the disease. Although other children who swam in the same pond were monitored for infection, they were eventually discharged without any signs of illness.
Similar cases of rare brain infection have been reported in the past, with the coastal Alappuzha district witnessing instances of the disease in 2023 and 2017.
In 2023, a 15-year-old boy from the Alappuzha district lost his life to the same deadly infection, underscoring the severity of the condition. With a mortality rate of 100 percent, all individuals afflicted by this rare brain ailment have tragically met a fatal end.