Overview

• Kerala’s health department issued an alert in Kozhikode district following three recent primary amoebic meningoencephalitis cases, one of which claimed the life of a nine-year-old girl.
• Two other patients—a three-month-old infant and a 40-year-old man—remain in intensive care at Government Medical College Hospital under the state’s PAM treatment protocols.
• Naegleria fowleri has been detected in a water source adjacent to the Thamarassery residence as officials map community exposures to identify the infection’s origin.
• Kerala’s existing standard operating procedures and special treatment guidelines, established after its 2023 surge, underpin the rapid laboratory confirmations and clinical response.
• Public advisories emphasize avoiding warm, stagnant freshwater and using sterile or boiled water for nasal rinses as enhanced surveillance links rising PAM detections to environmental factors.