Naegleria poses threat as committee finds no chlorine in water samples

KARACHI: Sindh health department’s Naegleria fowleri monitoring committee has found no chlorine in water samples taken from the city during the last two months.

In a report issued on Saturday, the committee said it has not found the required amount of chlorine in 90 percent of the cases when it collected water samples from all across the Sindh capital.

The committee is said to have stopped its operations as Health Department was not providing its members with petrol.

The report would be presented to Sindh Chief Minister Ali Shah next week.

Naegleria fowleri or the brain-eating amoeba found in freshwater caused 12 deaths in Sindh and according to sources at least two persons are being treated for the disease in as many hospitals.

Doctors and health experts say Naegleria fowleri usually enters the brain and attacks the nervous system when infected water is ingested through the nasal cavity while bathing, swimming or making ablution.