LAHORE:
The Health Department has instructed executive district officers (health) to make sure that a deadly brain-eating amoeba that has killed 30 people in Karachi in recent weeks is not present in the water supply in the Punjab, particularly in swimming pools and other water bodies used for swimming.
The Health Department issued a circular in this regard to the EDOs and other officials concerned instructing them to make sure that the water supply contains enough chlorine, which kills the amoeba, Naegleria Fowleri. It stated that the disease making its way into the Punjab “cannot be ruled out”. It instructed the EDOs to raise public awareness of the disease.
The amoeba is found in warm fresh water as in swimming pools, rivers and canals. The organism can invade the central nervous system through the nose and then go into the brain, where it causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). The disease is almost always fatal.
The amoeba usually infects people swimming in pools, canals or other fresh water bodies, but few of the victims of the disease in Karachi were reported to have been swimming.
Dr Muhammad Ali Rana told The Express Tribune that the infection can occur when people rinse their noses with tap water infected with the amoeba, possibly during ablutions before prayers. The organism can enter the human brain through the roof of the nose. He said that the disease could not be contracted by inhaling dust. He said the organism breeds when there is a slight increase in the temperature of stagnant water.
An official of the Health Department said that they did not control the water or sewerage system, so EDOs and other officials have been instructed to approach the authorities concerned to chlorinate the water. He said that a letter would also be sent to all private and public hospitals instructing them to inform the Health Department immediately if they come across a patient infected with N Fowleri.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ