Drug for treatment of amoebic meningoencephalitis received
Miltefosine procured from Germany; second batch of drug to reach in another week or so
Health Minister Veena George receives the medicine imported from Germany for the treatment of amoebic meningoencephalitis from officials of the VPS Healthcare group in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
Health Minister Veena George on Monday received the first batch of Miltefosine, the drug used for the treatment of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), procured for the State from Germany by VPS Healthcare Group.
Miltefosine, an anti-parasitic agent which has shown promising results in the treatment of PAM, was secured from Germany with the help of Shamseer Vayalil, the founder of the VPS Healthcare.
Ms. George thanked Dr. Vayalil for his timely intervention.
The PAM is a rare central nervous system infection caused by free-living amoeba, like Naegleria fowleri, usually found in stagnant waterbodies. The infection is highly fatal and often clinically indistinguishable from bacterial meningitis. Amphotericin B has been the mainstay of PAM treatment but Miltefosine was one among the cocktail of drugs which seemed to give good results and all of the well-documented survivors have received it as part of their treatment regimen.
Seven cases
Kerala has in recent times been reporting several cases of PAM — at least seven cases in the past three months — after the health system began investigating all cases of acute encephalitis syndrome. According to literature, globally, there have been only about 11 cases wherein the patient survived PAM and the State has been able to add to this small number of PAM survivors.
Miltefosine used to be part of the Central supply of drugs but its use has been extremely rare and the supply is limited now. The State had consulted the Centre about procuring the drug as more cases of PAM have been surfacing in the State.
A statement issued by the VPS Healthcare group said that a second batch of the drug would reach the State in another week or so.
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