Brain-eating amoeba: Ministry confirms cause of child’s death in CE

Ceará recorded a rare case of amoebic meningoencephalitis, a disease caused by Naegleria fowleri – known as brain-eating amoeba. The victim was a child aged 1 year and 3 months, from Caucaia, in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, who died on September 19, 2024, seven days after the onset of symptoms.

The information was confirmed this Tuesday (10) at CNN by the Ministry of Health and the Ceará State Department of Health, which continue to monitor the situation in the region.

In an interview with CNN the executive secretary of Health Surveillance at the Ceará Health Department and doctor in collective health, Antonio Lima Neto (Tanta), explained that the case was confirmed from a technical point of view.

“The laboratory report concluded that the condition is compatible with the diagnosis, considering laboratory, clinical and epidemiological aspects in the tests carried out”, explained the specialist.

According to the Ministry of Health, in Brazil, the only report in the scientific literature on the case of amoebic meningoencephalitis in humans caused by Naegleria fowleri occurred in 1975, in the state of São Paulo.

With the confirmation of the case, Antonio Lima Neto explains that Caucaia’s record was forwarded to the Ministry of Health.

“The reports from the Water Reference Laboratory (species classification) and the baby (species classification and genomic sequencing) have already confirmed the fact. As well as the histological study of brain tissue slides”, he explains.

According to the executive secretary, the diagnosis was only possible because the family allowed an analysis of the child’s autopsy.

The investigation process involves the participation of several bodies from the Health Surveillance Secretariat, such as the Death Verification Service (SVO), the Central Public Health Laboratory of Ceará (LACEN-CE) and the Epidemiological, Environmental and Health Surveillance. , in addition to the Adolfo Lutz Institute, linked to the São Paulo State Health Department (SES-SP).

Case investigation

On September 12, the child was treated at the Caucaia health center and referred to a UPA in the region.

The case was initially treated as a common viral infection, but quickly progressed to severe neurological symptoms, leading doctors to suspect amoebic meningoencephalitis.

Necropsy analysis and histopathological examinations indicated that the cause of the infection was Naegleria fowleri, which was later confirmed by laboratory tests carried out at the Adolfo Lutz Institute, in São Paulo.

According to the Ministry of Health, the infection occurs via the nasal route, being more common during diving. Around the world, cases of infection often involve people exposed to lakes, ponds and other bodies of water.

In the case of Caucaia, the suspicion is that the child was infected during a bath at home.

In a note sent to CNN the Ministry of Health reported that, as soon as the suspicion was raised, the Center for Strategic Information on Health Surveillance of Ceará (CIEVS/CE) held meetings with the leader of the settlement without a sewage system in which the child lived and with the community to provide guidance and recommendations for disinfecting the water reservoir that supplies the community.

“The way water is supplied has been modified, chlorination and filtration have been improved”, reinforces the executive secretary.

To reassure the local population, Antonio Lima explained that the case is an unusual health event, that is, a rare case for science.

“It appears to be an isolated case. Probably, the water that passed through a reservoir was heated naturally by the sun. This may have favored this reproduction”, he explains.

Naegleria fowleri

Naegleria fowleri is a free-living amoeba that inhabits aquatic environments, especially in warm waters such as lagoons, rivers, dams and hot springs.

Infection occurs when contaminated water enters the nostrils, usually during activities such as diving, and the amoeba migrates through the olfactory nerve to the brain, causing inflammation and brain destruction.

The disease, known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), is extremely rare, but has a fatality rate of 97%, with few documented cases of survival, according to Antonio Lima Neto.

The Ministry of Health reinforces that Naegleria fowleri is not transmitted by ingesting contaminated water and cannot be transmitted from person to person.

This content was originally published in Brain-eating amoeba: Ministry confirms cause of child’s death in CE on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil

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