The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has advised the residents of Karachi to take precautionary measures to avoid becoming a victim of Naegleria fowleri.
According to details, Naegleria is a rare but deadly waterborne amoeba that grows in freshwater sources, reservoirs including poorly chlorinated water networks.
It is advised to drink boiled water and not to wash face or bathe with polluted water.
PMA officials Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Dr Samreen Sarfaraz and Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro shared this at a press conference at PMA House on Wednesday.
They demanded that the government ensures to supply chlorinated water to residents to avoid any unpleasant situation.
“Naegleria fowleri is a serious health issue. Recently, six deaths have been reported, five of them were from Karachi and one was from Balochistan, who also died in Karachi during treatment,” they said.
They added: “We fear that unreported deaths would be higher than the reported ones. Unfortunately, safe water is not available to the vast majority of our population. People are compelled to consume contaminated water that causes waterborne diseases like typhoid, gastroenteritis, hepatitis A, E and cholera.”
“The chief justice should take suo motu notice on this matter. It’s criminal negligence and responsible officials should be punished. We know that water has not been chlorinated at all for many years,” said Dr Mirza Ali Azhar heading PMA-Sindh chapter, adding that the general practitioners should be trained in disease diagnosis.
“This contaminated water also carries a Naegleria fowleri amoeba, which enters into the brain through nostrils and starts damaging it and causes meningoencephalitis, which is fatal in 95 per cent cases and affected person dies eventually.”
“Naegleria fowleri is found all over in moist soil, freshwater bodies, poorly chlorinated swimming pools and water supplying pipes. When water contaminated with Naegleria is sucked through the nose during bathing, rinsing the nose and ablution, it invades olfactory neuroepithelium and rapidly destroys brain tissue, which causes severe meningoencephalitis within 1-9 days,” they said.
“The initial symptoms of the disease were headache, body ache, high-grade fever, drowsiness, fainting and coma,” they said, adding: “PMA is concerned over the fact that Naegleria fowleri has been reported from water being supplied by Karachi Water & Sewerage Board. The filtration and chlorination of potable water provided in the city is questionable.”
They said that the water distribution system was defective allowing seepage of sewage in the domestic water supply that resulted in contamination and caused dangerous diseases.
Besides, people should not have gone to non-chlorinated swimming pools, they added.
The PMA representatives advised the people to put chlorine tablets (one tablet in 1,000 gallons of water) in their underground tanks.
They said water tanks at homes, hospitals, schools, shopping malls and offices should be cleaned once a year.
They said chlorine price has increased these days but people could use two tablespoons of bleach powder.
People can make paste of it with water and put it into their water tanks at night. This would be enough for 500 to 1,500 gallons of water to help prevent Naegleria.
The PMA requested all doctors, particularly general practitioners, to take it seriously if a patient shows symptoms of nausea, vomiting, headache and high-grade fever. Such a patient should be tested for Naegleria.
