Naegleria claims first life in Punjab

Organism found in swimming pools, water tanks affect brain of patients

LAHORE:

Naegleria fowleri infection has claimed its first life in Punjab.

A 30-year-old patient, Mustafa Shafique, died at the Services Hospital in Lahore, where he has been brought a couple of days ago after a laboratory confirmed presence of naegleria fowleri in his body.

However, the Punjab health authorities appear to be in the dark regarding the death and the presence of the deadly organism in Lahore.

Medical experts in the Services Hospital are concerned about the instance of the disease in Lahore.

According to sources, this is the first case of the infection identified in Lahore.

Two cases of naegleria fowleri had been recorded in Karachi in recent weeks. The infection had claimed several lives in Sindh last year.

Punjab had remained secure from the infection thus far and the confirmation of its first case in Lahore has alarmed the medical community.

The organism is usually found in swimming pools and in most cases it affects swimmers.

The victim, Shafique, was a body builder. He had complained of severe headache while swimming and had been admitted to the emergency ward of the Services Hospital.

According to hospital sources, he had been advised diagnostic tests at a private laboratory and in his report confirmed that he had been infected by naegleria.

“After the confirmation of the virus, the patient had been shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and a medical team of the hospital had been deputed to treat him, but he passed away,” a doctor told The Express Tribune.

He said the doctors had done their best but they may not have been able to properly treat the patient because it was the first case of its kind in the city.

Six deaths due to the disease had been confirmed in Karachi during the past year, because of which the Sindh government had taken the health risk seriously and taken steps to curb it.

According to medical experts, the amoeba is found in the clean water of swimming pools, water tanks in homes and also drinking water supply points.

“Previously, maximum cases of this virus were reported in the United States, but during recent years Pakistan has also seen a number of confirmed naegleria fowleri cases and deaths,” said a former medical superintendent of the Lady Willingdon Hospital, Dr Sabahat Habib.

She said the organism entered and damaged the brain of the victims during swimming. “It eats the brain cells and also damages the spinal system of human body,” she added.

The doctor stressed the need for chlorination of swimming pools and water tanks to protect the citizens against the disease.

She said the water tanks at homes should be cleaned twice a year.

On the other hand, a large number of swimming pools in Lahore and other cities of Punjab are functioning without precautionary measures.

Many swimming pools have been constructed over the years in homes and other places across the city in which the water is never chlorinated.

A large number of people swim in the pools in the summer to counter the heat.

A health official of the Punjab government declined to comment on the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2023.