The deadly brain-eating amoeba
lurking in Karachi's warm waters
·
Zain Ali, karachi
Jamshed Khan started complaining of headaches
one Monday night earlier this month – three days later he was dead.
As the
pain spread from the 19-year-old Karachi medical student's head to his spine,
he grew feverish and began vomiting.
A
doctor in the family's Surjani neighbourhood advised immediate hospitalisation,
but with roads closed by processions for a religious holiday, his parents were
unable to get him there until the Wednesday.
Tests
quickly showed that Jamshed had Naeglaria, a rare brain-eating parasite. Hours
later he was dead.
Abid
Khan, Jamshed's uncle, said his nephew had been the “darling of the entire family”.
“I wish
his disease was diagnosed on time and properly treated. He would be alive
today,” he told the Telegraph earlier this week.
Statistics
show Jamshed's chances of survival would have been slim no matter how early he
was diagnosed.
The
United States' Centers for Disease Control reports that 97 per cent of US cases
have been fatal, with just four people out of 145 infected individuals
known to have survived between 1962 and 2018.
In
Karachi, Pakistan, the disease – caused by the amoeba Naeglaria
fowleri – has proven to be 100 per cent fatal and has killed 14
people this year, up from seven in 2018.
The
amoeba typically thrives in warm, fresh water. Infections are rare, but
the parasites liking for warmth has led to suggestions it may become more
common due to climate change.
The
parasite enters the body through the nose and is commonly picked up when
swimming or diving in lakes and rivers. It can also enter the nose through
washing, for example during religious ablutions.
Once in
the nose, the amoeba travels up to the brain and begins destroying tissue,
quickly causing swelling and death.
The
amoeba cannot spread person-to-person, or be caught by drinking water, and is
killed by chlorination. The US's most recent victim, a 10-year-old girl
called Lily Mae Avant,
died earlier this month in Texas after swimming in the Brazos river over Labor
Day weekend.
In
Karachi, Dr Syed Zafar Mehdi, head of Sindh government's Naegleria unit, said
inadequately chlorinated water supplies were to blame.
The
sprawling port on the shores of the Arabian sea is infamous for neglected
infrastructure that cannot cope with its surging population. Many residents
have no access to mains water and rely on a “tanker mafia”
for supplies.
Dr
Mehdi said large amounts of chlorine were added to the water supply each month,
but faulty equipment and rusty, leaking pipelines meant it did not mix properly
with the water, or reach the taps of many households.
Putting
low-cost chlorine tablets in household water was a solution, he added. He said
his unit, working with the World Health Organization, had started to distribute
tablets to residents.
But
Asadullah Khan, managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board,
denied that there was inadequate chlorination.
“None
of the water boards of other cities rather than Karachi Water and Sewerage
Board purchase chlorine in such a huge quantity,” he said.
“An
adequate quantity of chlorine is mixing by the water board in Karachi's water
supply,” Mr Khan added.
He insisted
that the rise in cases in Karachi was due to victims from other areas
heading to the city and dying during medical treatment.
But
Jamshed's parents just wish their bright young son was still alive.
“I wish
he had lived, studied and become a doctor to change the poor health system
which has failed to save the lives of many like my son,” said Jamshed's
father, Muhammad Hamid Khan.
“Alas,
his life was short and he fell pray to a rare disease.”