Overview

• Kerala’s health minister said the state has logged 69 cases and 19 deaths in 2025, with no clusters reported this year after a 2024 cluster tied to a shared water source.
• Congress MP Shashi Tharoor urged people to avoid swimming in untreated freshwater, noting that seawater, household supplies and chlorinated pools are considered safe.
• Officials credit routine CSF testing adopted after the 2023 Nipah response with earlier diagnosis of amoebic infections and improved survival.
• Clinicians report that most recent cases involve Acanthamoeba and that many patients are immunocompromised, making sensational ‘brain‑eating amoeba’ framing misleading.
• The state has intensified chlorination of waterbodies and expanded diagnostics, with NCDC monitoring and ICMR and research partners assisting in epidemiological analysis.