Karachi: Authorities in Pakistan’s largest city have launched an urgent investigation after a rare water-borne “brain-eating” amoeba killed 10 people in four months, officials said on Tuesday.
The water company and health officials monitoring water in Karachi, home to 18 million people, have been ordered to trace the source of the Naegleria fowleri outbreak.
Saghir Ahmad, health minister of southern Sindh province of which Karachi is capital, said the drinking water supply, swimming areas and facilities used for ablutions were all under investigation.
“There is no reason to panic and citizens should stay calm and take precautions,” Ahmad said.
“It is a water-borne infection and we are thoroughly inquiring about its arrival and spread here.”
Shakeel Malek, a health ministry official, said the amoeba had caused 10 deaths so far this year. He said there have been cases in the past, but so few that detailed numbers were not recorded.
The amoeba causes primary amoebic meningitis, a disease with a fatality rate of over 99 per cent, said Faisal Mehmoud, an expert in infectious diseases.
Naegleria fowleri is found in warm, fresh water and usually infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. The amoeba passes through the nasal membranes and destroys brain tissues.
The ablutions involve rinsing inside the nose and Ahmad said people should use boiled water for the purpose while the outbreak is on.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said nine cases had been confirmed and one more was suspected. It is working with Pakistani officials to investigate the cases and work out steps to prevent further infections.
“We are visiting houses of the victims and profiling their history,” Mousa Khan, WHO’s head of disease early warning system in Pakistan, told AFP.
Misbah Al Deen Farid, who heads the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, said chlorine concentration was being increased in reservoirs and supply stations as a precaution.
A health ministry statement referring to recent lab tests said 22 per cent of 913 samples drawn from water supply sources in the last three months were found to be non-chlorinated.
