The Kerala Health department and scientists at the ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai, have initiated field studies in Kozhikode to look into the reasons for the surge in amoebic meningoencephalitis in Kerala.
Following an explosion of amoebic infections in the State in the past two years, with cases and deaths occurring at regular intervals and triggering much panic amongst the people, the Health department has initiated several studies on the epidemiological links, microbiological and patient profiles as well as genomic sequencing studies on amoebic encephalitis.
Other districts
The Health department and the NIE team will continue field studies in Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts too, which account for a significant number of the amoebic infections reported in 2024 as well as 2025.
This year, Kerala has reported 144 cases of amoebic meningoencephalitis infections and 30 deaths till October 25.
A press release issued by Health Minister Veena George said that the State has initiated a couple of studies on amoebic meningoencephalitis, as a follow-up to the technical workshop that the Health department had conducted in August 2024, with the participation of the ICMR; Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV); Advanced Virology Institute, Pondicherry; the Indian Institute of Science; and the State Pollution Control Board.
Saving lives
Following the spate of cases reported last year, the Health department had issued a protocol that in all cases of acute encephalitis syndrome of unknown etiologies, the samples be tested for the presence of amoeba. With clinicians testing aggressively, the State has been detecting many cases of amoebic infection. Early detection and treatment initiation have been saving lives, doctors say.
However, with amoebic meningoencephalitis being detected in many people with atypical symptoms, mild infections, no known epidemiological links, and with random cases being picked up by neurologists, the Health department has been finding it quite difficult to convince people that the State was not facing an enhanced public health threat.
Public health experts have been consistently pointing to the increasing pollution of the State’s waterbodies, including domestic wells, and the high E.coli contamination as the primary reasons for the increased amoebic density in these water sources. The Health department states that the Microbiology departments in all its medical colleges have the facility to detect amoeba and that the State Public Health lab and the IAV have the facility for identification of five species of amoeba known to be toxic to humans—Naegleria fowleri, Acanthamoeba sp., Vermamoeba vermiformis, Balamuthia mandrillaris, Paravahlkampfia francinae—through molecular diagnosis.
Apart from coordinated activities with other departments for the cleaning and chlorination of waterbodies and wells, the Health department is continuously monitoring the situation, officials said.
The Health department’s guidelines to the public for preventive measures to be adopted against amoebic infection now specifies that only sterilised water be used for nasal irrigation—for religious purposes or for clearing the sinuses.
The latest addition in the guidelines also stresses that people with various immunocompromising conditions should make sure that skin wounds are cleaned/washed with only sterilised/treated water as in such persons, Acanthamoeba can enter the blood stream through skin wounds and cause central nervous system infections.
Published – October 28, 2025 08:11 pm IST
