Xinhua News Agency, Colombo, September 18 (Reporter Wu Yue) New Delhi: According to Indian media reports on the 18th, 69 cases of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis have been diagnosed in Kerala, southern India this year, causing 19 deaths, of which 3 deaths occurred in the last month.

Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis is a rare disease caused by a parasite called Naegleria flexneri. This parasite, commonly known as "brain-eating worm", often lives in warm fresh water, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, hot springs, etc., and can enter the human body through nasal cavity and oral cavity to cause diseases. It mainly attacks the central nervous system, causing brain damage and triggering a severe inflammatory response.

Early symptoms of infection include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and stiffness in the neck. The disease progresses faster and has a high mortality rate, with a survival rate of only about 3%.

According to Indian media, people in Kerala rely on wild ponds and unchlorinated water sources, and the waterlogging caused by the recent monsoon has caused water pollution. In addition, people often play in the wild, which is also the reason for the recent frequent local cases.

The report quoted Kerala Health Minister Vina George as saying that there were no clustered cases caused by a single water source this year, but sporadic cases were the main ones, which brought difficulties to epidemiological tracking and traceability investigation.

The Kerala government has taken a number of countermeasures, such as strengthening the detection and isolation of suspected patients, improving laboratory identification capabilities, carrying out environmental water sample monitoring in key areas, and disinfecting public water supplies and suspected water sources.