AlQa'dah 23, 1433, Oct 9, 2012, SPA -- Health authorities were scrambling to deal with a rise in amoeba attacks that have killed at least 10 people in Pakistan's port city of Karachi since July, officials said Tuesday. Naegleria fowleri, a microscopic waterborne parasite, enters the body through nasal cavity and eats its way to the brain, causing death within a week, officials said. "Ten deaths in such a short period have sparked alarm as amoeba attacks are extremely rare," Shakeel Mullick, a deputy head of Karachi's Civil Hospital, said. Mullick said symptoms of brain-eating amoeba included fever, headaches and nausea. He said the disease had a fatality rate of nearly 99 per cent.
