After a horrible 2014 in Karachi, Pakistan where at least 14 deaths were recorded linked to the “brain-eating amoeba”, Naegleria fowleri, provincial health authorities confirmed Wednesday the first case of 2015, Pakistani news source, Dawn.com reports.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

Officials say that the 18-year-old female was admitted in a ‘critical’ condition to a private hospital last week and was put on the ventilator of an intensive care unit, where she died on Monday. The authorities confirmed the death on Wednesday.

She was a resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar. It is not noted how the woman contracted the lethal parasite.

LISTEN: Amoeba awareness: Naegleria fowleri

Primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), is a disease of the central nervous system. PAM is caused by Naegleria fowleri, a free-living ameba. It is a rare disease that is almost always fatal.

Humans become infected when water containing Naegleria fowleri enters the nose and the ameba migrates to the brain along the olfactory nerve. People do not become infected from drinking contaminated water.Symptoms start 1-7 days (median 5 days) after swimming or other nasal exposure to Naegleria-containing water. People die 1-12 days (median 5.3 days) after symptoms begin. PAM is difficult to detect because the disease progresses rapidly so that diagnosis is usually made after death.