Malappuram (Kerala): A five-year-old girl afflicted by amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain infection caused by a free-living amoeba found in contaminated waters, in Malappuram district of Kerala died, official sources said on Tuesday.

The child hailing from Moonniyur panchayat here died on Monday night at the Kozhikode Medical College's Institute of Maternal and Child Health, where she was undergoing treatment for over a week, they said.

According to medical experts, the infection is caused when free-living, non-parasitic amoebae bacteria enter the body through the nose from contaminated water.

The girl had taken bath in a nearby pond on May 1 and by May 10, and showed symptoms of fever, headache and vomiting, the sources said.

The child was on a ventilator and unresponsive to medication. Other children who also took bath along with the girl in the same pond were under observation. However, they were discharged after being found to be free of infection, sources added.

The disease was earlier reported in coastal Alappuzha district in the state in 2023 and 2017.

The main symptoms of the disease are fever, headache, vomiting, and seizures.

 

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Bareilly (UP) (PTI): A man allegedly threw acid on a married woman and her family members after she turned down his marriage proposal, police said.

The incident took place in the Shergarh area on Saturday, leaving the woman, her husband and two children injured.

The police said the family was sleeping in the verandah of their house when the accused allegedly entered through the roof and threw the acid on them through a mosquito net.

Circle Officer, Mirganj, said, "Shergarh police received information around 6 am that four members of a family had suffered burn injuries after a flammable substance was thrown on them."

He said police found during the investigation that the accused, Umesh Kashyap, allegedly wanted to marry the woman despite being married himself.

After she refused to marry him, Kashyap allegedly tried to throw a flammable substance on Devi. In this process, other members of the family also suffered injuries, the officer said.

The injured were taken to the Shergarh Community Health Centre, from where one of them was referred to the district hospital, police said.

An FIR has been registered, and teams have been formed to arrest the accused, they added.