'Brain-eating' amoeba kills 40-year-old Pakistani

Islamabad (IANS) Naegleria fowleri, a waterborne organism commonly known as the 'brain-eating' amoeba, has led to the death of a 40-year-old man in Pakistan's Karachi port city, the third such case this year.

Tahir Ansari died at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi Saturday, a hospital official told the Dawn newspaper.

The amoeba is said to cause a rare but typically fatal infection called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.

Ansari became the third person to die due to the waterborne infection in the city this year.

Ansari had recently visited a graveyard, where he washed his hands and face with water from a reservoir, the hospital official said.

Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba found in rivers, lakes, springs, drinking water networks and poorly chlorinated swimming pools, was detected in May 2012 and killed 10 people in the country till October, official records show.