Authorities in India’s southern state of Kerala have issued a health alert after infections and deaths caused by a rare water-borne “brain-eating” amoeba more than doubled compared with last year.

Officials on Wednesday said Kerala had registered 69 cases of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis since the start of 2025, including 19 deaths, following contact with the Naegleria fowleri amoeba. Three of the deaths were recorded in the last month, including that of a three-month-old baby.

Last year, there were nine deaths of 36 reported cases.

The amoeba, which does not spread from person to person, lives in warm lakes and rivers and is contracted by contaminated water entering the nose.

“Unlike last year, we are not seeing clusters linked to a single water source,” state Health Minister Ve

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