An Indian teenager from Kerala has survived infection of a deadly brain-eating amoeba.
14-year-old Afnan was likely infected in June when swimming in a local pond.
Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), the disease caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri has a mortality rate of 97%.
Only eight people have survived the disease in the last 50 years.
But in all eight cases, the infection was diagnosed between nine hours and five days after the symptoms appeared – which played a crucial role in their recovery.
Therefore, timely treatment is the only way to save someone.
Symptoms of PAM include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, a stiff neck, a loss of balance, seizures and/or hallucinations.
Afnan developed seizures and began complaining of severe headaches five days after the swim.
Before Afnan was brought to the hospital, three people had already died in Kerala from the disease.
Doctors at the first two hospitals the boy’s father took him to weren’t able to identify the infection, and it was only at the third hospital they went to that an accurate diagnosis was made – all within 24 hours from symptom onsets, which effectively saved Afnan’s life.
The amoeba enters the human body through nasal passages and it travels through the cribriform plate – which is located at the base of the skull and transmits olfactory nerves to enable the sense of smell – to reach the brain, which is destroyed by intracranial pressure due to release of chemicals.
His spinal cord was infected with a series of antimicrobial drugs.
The Naegleria fowleri is found in warm, freshwater lakes, and people should avoid plunging into the water or diving.
It’s always best for swimmers to keep their head above water, even in public swimming pools, if possible.
