Nine year old dies of amoebic encephalitis in Kerala

    Kozhikode(Kerala), Aug 16 (PTI) Amoebic encephalitis, a rare brain infection, was found to be the cause of a nine-year-old girl's death two days ago in this north Kerala district, health officials confirmed on Saturday.
    This infection is caused by a free-living amoeba found in contaminated waters, they added.
    A senior health official said that the girl was admitted to a hospital due to fever on August 13, but as her condition worsened quickly, she was shifted to the Kozhikode medical college on August 14 where she died the same day.
    A test carried out at the microbiology lab of the medical college revealed late Friday night that the cause of the girl's death was amoebic encephalitis, the official said.
    The search is on to identify the water body, such as a pond or lake, from where the child, a resident of Thamarassery, contracted the pathogen, he said.
     "Once the water body is identified, we will look for those who may have bathed in it recently," he added.
    The official said it was probably the fourth case of the rare brain infection reported from the district this year.
    Caused by free-living amoeba, amoebic encephalitis is a deadly infection that is typically contracted from freshwater sources such as lakes, rivers, and streams.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)