Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba, has claimed another life in Karachi: a young man of around 29 years of age;
July 9th, 2017“…..Ruling out the possibility of swimming, he said the patient had spent four separate nights of Ramazan at a lawn for prayers. The doctor suspected that he might have contracted the infection during ablution before the prayers……They said that whenever the brain-eating amoeba found suitable environmental conditions and temperatures, it multiplied and infected the people who ingested the water through their nostrils. “Our research has shown that Naegleria fowleri colonies are present in the water tanks that were not cleaned for months and years,” said an AKUH expert and researcher.
“These microorganisms live in the layer of mud at the bottom of the water tanks, and when they find suitable environmental conditions, they start multiplying and targeting humans.”
The researcher said the best option to stay safe from N fowleri was to clean the overhead and underground tanks at houses, mosques and apartment buildings, and then to regularly chlorinate the water to kill the microorganisms.
“The water tanks at mosques should be cleaned on priority basis, as they are hardly cleaned and taken care of by the management of the mosques.” He said a large number of people made ablution on a daily basis at mosques and ingested the water through their nostrils, which could infect them with the amoeba……..”