Naegleria fowleri precaution

Naegleria fowleri infects people when water containing the ameba enters the body through the nose. This typically enters when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places, like lakes and rivers. The Naegleria fowleri ameba then travels up the nose to the brain where it destroys the brain tissue. Naegleria fowleri is found around the world. In the United States, the majority of infections have been caused by Naegleria fowleri from freshwater located in southern-tier states.
The Naegleria Fowleri amoeba lives in supplies of fresh water which are not chlorinated and causes bacterial meningitis if it enters the nasal cavity from where it can travel to the brain. This is also generally known as the brain-eating amoeba.
Two people died in Karachi, as a consequent of the Naegleria Fowleri amoeba which has tainted water supplies in Karachi and probably other parts of Sindh. This shows the absence of safe drinking water. The latest victims are a young doctor who lived in Karachi and an eight-year-old boy who is thought to have lived in Dadu but was treated at Liaquat National Hospital.
Two other persons had died as a consequence of meningitis caused by the amoeba, also in Karachi. This is becoming a usual happening each year. The Sindh Health Department has advised people to put bleach in their water tanks and ensure it is properly dissolved.
In Karachi, water collected from 50 percent of UCs in the city was found to be one way or the other. This is a frightening number. People have a right to safe water to drink and bathe. It should be a government preference to ensure this is available to them.
The health department is carrying out further testing of water supplies in Karachi and other cities in Sindh to determine the exact situation. It is also said water piped to houses will be chlorinated, but perhaps, particularly as the monsoon season begins, people should chlorinate their own water as some doctors have already suggested.
The problem of safe drinking water is one which has an influence on the whole country. The deaths in Karachi shows how much danger lies in a substance on which the whole countries depend for life.
People must also be conscious of not swimming or bathing in not chlorinated freshwater like lakes, ponds or rivers. This has been a cause of Naegleria Fowleri in the past. Along with warning people, steps have to be taken to make water safe to prevent further death.
A neurosurgeon and a child are the latest victims of Naegleria fowleri known as rare but deadly water-borne amoeba that thrives in freshwater sources, reservoirs including poorly chlorinated water networks.
Dr Chandio had no history of swimming while Zohaib had. Earlier, two patients, both in their 30s and residents of Karachi, died of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), the fatal infection caused by Naegleria fowleri.
Around 95percent of water samples collected from Karachi’s 50 UCs are not fit for human consumption. One of them died in mid-May and the other in the first week of June.