Two more die of amoebic meningoencephalitis in Kerala, including infant

Kozhikode (Kerala), Sep 1 (IANS) The fatal amoebic meningoencephalitis or ‘brain eating amoeba’ has claimed two more lives including a three-month-old infant in the past 24 hours in Kerala, officials confirmed on Monday.

Both the patients succumbed to the disease at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. With these deaths, the toll from the amoebic brain fever in the state has risen to three within August, the officials said.

In the first case, an infant who had been undergoing treatment for fever at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, for the past one month, died of amoebic meningoencephalitis late on Sunday night.

Health officials suspect that the water from the well of the infant’s house may have caused the infection, reported a local media.

In the second incident, Ramla (53), wife of Mohammed Bashir of Kannamangalam in Malappuram died after battling for life for nearly a month at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital on Sunday. She was admitted to the hospital on August 4 after high fever and vomiting, reported a local media quoting health officials.

Kerala has reported about 42 cases and six deaths in 2025 from amoebic meningoencephalitis -- a rare but highly fatal brain infection caused by free-living amoebae found in contaminated water.

Earlier in August, a nine-year-old girl from Thamarassery in Kozhikode died after contracting the infection, believed to have been acquired while bathing in a pond near her house.

Her younger brother also tested positive and remains under treatment.

Health department records show that by the end of August, Kerala had confirmed more than forty cases of amoebic meningoencephalitis this year, with patients spread across Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram districts.

The state government has launched a campaign to clean and chlorinate public wells and water sources, alongside awareness drives in schools and communities. Medical experts have urged people to avoid swimming or bathing in stagnant or poorly maintained water bodies, and to ensure proper disinfection of household wells.

Officials maintain that Kerala’s mortality rate, though concerning, has improved compared with earlier years due to quicker diagnosis and treatment facilities now available within the state.

-- IANS

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