Naegleria and Dengue form new Death Clouds over Karachi

Karachi: A middle-aged man and a young woman fell prey to two different deadly diseases in Karachi, the former to much-dreaded dengue fever and the latter to Naegleria fowleri, better known as the ‘brain-eating amoeba’.

A senior health official has said that she was the eighth victim of naegleria this year in Sindh and first young woman since January last year.

The ages of the naegleria victims have ranged between 04 years and 49 years.

Another official said that like all the previous cases this year, the woman had no history of swimming — which is indicative that the infection is now travelling through house water.

The amoeba is commonly found in lakes, ponds, rivers, springs, drinking water networks and poorly chlorinated swimming pools.

A health official has said that the amoeba can only be eliminated by the use of properly chlorinated water.

Meanwhile, the officials have said that the 43-year-old man, Afzal Rehan, was a resident of Nazimabad, and he died of dengue at a private hospital, where he had been admitted last week.

This was the ninth death from dengue this year; and last year the disease affected more than 6,000 people resulting is a death of 32 people in Sindh.