Boy dies from brain-eating bacterial infection in Kerala's Kozhikode

KOZHIKODE: A 12-year-old boy became the latest victim of a rare infection caused by brain-eating bacteria a fortnight after taking bath in a contaminated pond in Kerala's Kozhikode on Wednesday night.
Three people have died from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain disease caused by free living amoeba Naegleria fowleri, in the state since May 20.
E P Mridul fell sick five days after a bath in a pond near Ferok College in Ramanattukara. His fever, headache and vomiting symptoms aggravated on the seventh day. As he fell unconscious, he was rushed to Kozhikode Baby Memorial Hospital on June 24. Consultant paediatric intensivist Dr Abdul Rauf on Tuesday administered him a cocktail of five drugs brought from Germany, but it was too late to save the boy.
Earlier, the infection killed a girl from Kannur's Thottada on June 12, and a five-year-old girl from Malappuram's Munniyoor on May 20. Dr Rauf said the recurring instances of amoebic meningoencephalitis in Kerala call for a detailed study on the reasons behind the rise in infections.