Pakistan reports first Naegleria death of 2025 in Karachi

KARACHI: A 36-year-old woman in Karachi has succumbed to the deadly brain-eating micro-organism known as amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, marking the first death from this infection in 2025.

The brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri has a fatality rate of more than 98%. It gets transmitted via water that should not come anywhere near the nose.

This infection is not, however, communicable from person to person. The patient had shown signs and symptoms and was brought to the hospital on February 19, died four days later on February 24.

More than 100 people have died of this disease since the emergence of Naegleria fowleri in 2008, with five deaths reported last year. Some common symptoms of the disease are severe headache, high fever, change in taste, light sensitivity, nausea, and vomiting; if untreated, the duration of the disease leading to death is from five to seven days.

According to an investigation by the Sindh Health Department, the only way the victim was disso-lated with the contaminated water was by way of doing wuzu or ablution at their home.

The disturbing study done in 2021 by the Sindh Health Department showed that about 95% of the water samples in Karachi were not suitable for human consumption.

That contamination has given a unique feature in this ‘amikna regarding which it of blevawzcs propaga what is the deadly amoeba.