A waterborne, brain-destroying species of amoeba has killed 10 people in Karachi, Pakistan, this year, prompting local water officials to increase the amount of chlorine in the city’s water supply and advise residents to use sterilized water when performing a Muslim ritual which involves cleansing the nostrils.
Misbahuddin Farid, managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, said the origin of the amoebas had not been determined, according to a report in the Dawn newspaper.
Naegleria fowleri
The amoeba, known by the scientific name Naegleria fowleri, is virtually impossible to detect in the water and its presence in humans is determined by spinal tests, according to information on the water board’s website.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Naegleria fowleri amoeba causes a severe brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis. The disease is usually fatal.
The amoeba most commonly enters the body through the nasal passages and usually infects people who have been swimming in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, according to the CDC.
But it can exist in improperly chlorinated swimming pool or heated tap water, the CDC says.
Only one of the 10 victims of the current outbreak in Pakistan had visited a swimming pool, according to another report from the Dawn newspaper, so authorities are focusing on the Muslim ablution ritual, or waddu.
“Special care should be taken when doing waddu, brushing teeth or cleaning the nasal area,” the water board’s website says.
Two people in the U.S. state of Louisiana died from the amoeba last year after apparently contracting it when rinsing their sinuses with a neti pot, a small vessel used to pour warm water into one nostril and out the other.
Three other Americans died last year after contracting the amoeba while swimming.
The Karachi water board said it would increase chlorine content in the water supply for the city of more than 15 million people after tests of more than 900 water samples taken around the city found 22% to be unchlorinated or have insufficient levels of the chemical, according to a report in the Dawn newspaper.
Saghir Ahmed, minister of health for Sindh state, in which Karachi is located, said residents should be safe if they followed the water board’s advice.
“There is no reason to panic and citizens should stay calm and take precautions,” Ahmed was quoted by Dawn as saying.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Boil water, ban religion.
Boil water and ban bigots.
to good lmao
I wonder how it would do on conservative republican brains? I know its also slim pickins but one can only hope.
So?
My message to you the day your mother dies: "So?"
Does the amoeba look like a guy riding a tractor to you?
Rude comments...people just lost their loved ones. Never wish death upon anyone. Condolences to the families.
Sounds like the Mossad has had there hands in the pakistans water supply again... Good Job IDF you guys made a super weapon that kills only middle eastern people yet ? sounds like yall have......
Israel is probably not involved in this one, although there were serious questions raised about the work of certain scientists at the Ness Ziona biolab in Israel, who cooperated with apartheid era scientists from South Africa, looking for ways to kill blacks specifically, in order to find ethnobiological weapons to kill Palestinians, but turned out they were all Semites – Jews and Arabs alike – too genetically similar.
There should be no room for racists on this board. Come on CNN, don't be complicit.
One more reason to give up the silly notion of religion. So tell me...is this one religions way of culling the herd? Keep up the good work.
Brain-eating huh? That's the absolute LAST type of bacteria I'd expect out of a place like that.
Must be a terribly painful way to die. Sorry for those folks. I've met some awfully nice- and smart!- Pakistanis. May God, who is really just us, imo, bless them.
Rasheed, thousands of Americans would be willing to kill you over those comments. If you think that you or any of your kind of extremists have any power over the US, you are wrong. The US have enough rescources and allies to be able to exterminate any person who threatens our citizens. The only reason that our people have been killed by terrorists like you is cowardly suicide attacks that even the devil would be ashamed to do.
commenting on Rasheed's "then you would like to enjoy another 9/11" post.
Unneccesarry and rude. Think before you post
Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful post. Thanks for supplying this information.
Now we know how to kill Pakistanis by making these microbes our friends.
Indian RAW agents will cause widespread deaths in Karachi with the help of these microbes.