KARACHI- Death toll goes up to 5 this year, as the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri claimed another life in Karachi.
Focal Person for the Naegleria Control Committee, Sindh, Dr. Syed Zafar Mehdi, informed that, a 14 year-old boy, Meer Numan, resident of Nazimabad No.1, died in a private hospital of Karachi. He was brought to the hospital in a critical condition and died during treatment.
This organism, N. fowleri is found in warm freshwater bodies such as ponds, lakes, swimming pools, as well as underground and overhead tanks. It enters the human body through a person's nose and consumes brain tissue. This amoeba can survive in high temperatures too.