{"id":344745,"date":"2025-08-19T17:07:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T11:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=344745"},"modified":"2025-08-19T17:07:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T11:37:34","slug":"primary-amoebic-meningoencephalitis-pam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/primary-amoebic-meningoencephalitis-pam\/","title":{"rendered":"Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News:<\/strong> The Health department in Kozhikode, Kerala, has issued an alert against primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in the district in view of the reporting of three cases of the infection and a death here in recent days.<\/p>\n<h2>About Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM)<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_344747\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-344747\" style=\"width: 478px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-344747\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-Taylor-and-Francis-Journals.jpg?resize=478%2C336&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"478\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-Taylor-and-Francis-Journals.jpg?resize=300%2C211&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-Taylor-and-Francis-Journals.jpg?resize=1024%2C719&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-Taylor-and-Francis-Journals.jpg?resize=768%2C540&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-Taylor-and-Francis-Journals.jpg?w=1254&amp;ssl=1 1254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 478px) 100vw, 478px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-344747\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Taylor and Francis Journals<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>rare but lethal<\/strong> <strong>central nervous system infection<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Caused by:<\/strong> It is caused by <strong>Naegleria fowleri<\/strong>, known as the <strong>\u201cbrain eating amoeba\u201d.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>free-living amoeba<\/strong> found in <strong>warm, fresh water and soil<\/strong>, and infects people when it enters the body <strong>through the nose<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Risk factors:<\/strong> Risk factors for infection include <strong>swimming, diving, waterskiing, surfing, and exposure to hot springs. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Season\/region of vulnerability:<\/strong> PAM is <strong>more common in warmer regions<\/strong> and generally occurs in the <strong>warmer months of spring and summer<\/strong>, possibly due to the increased likelihood of participation in <strong>waterborne activities<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Symptoms:<\/strong> Symptoms include <strong>headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Testing and diagnosis:<\/strong> PAM is <strong>difficult to diagnose<\/strong> because of the rarity of the infection and the non-specific early symptoms.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prevention:<\/strong> People should focus on <strong>limiting the amount of water<\/strong> going up the nose.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Treatment and recovery:<\/strong> Several drugs are effective, however, their <strong>effectiveness is unclear<\/strong> since almost all infections have been <strong>deadly<\/strong>, even when people were treated.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cases in India:<\/strong> The <strong>first case of PAM in India<\/strong> was reported in <strong>1971<\/strong>, and the <strong>first case in Kerala<\/strong> was reported in <strong>2016<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Note:<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Amoebic Encephalitis<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are <strong>2 types of amebic encephalitis<\/strong> \u2013\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis<\/strong> <strong>(PAM)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Granulomatous Amoebic Encephalitis (GAE).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The initial <strong>symptoms of PAM<\/strong> are <strong>indistinguishable<\/strong> from <strong>bacterial meningitis<\/strong>, while the <strong>symptoms of GAE<\/strong> can <strong>mimic a brain abscess, encephalitis, or meningitis<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>These infections are almost <strong>uniformly fatal<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>mortality rate is above 90%,<\/strong> despite antimicrobial therapy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Health department in Kozhikode, Kerala, has issued an alert against primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in the district in view of the reporting of three cases of the infection and a death here in recent days. About Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) It is a rare but lethal central nervous system infection Caused by: It&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/primary-amoebic-meningoencephalitis-pam\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-344745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}