PAMSHIELD: Environmental suitability screening for Naegleria fowleri to support climate-resilient freshwater risk management
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Global climate change is driving the thermal warming of freshwater ecosystems, expanding the habitable range of Naegleria fowleri and increasing the risk of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM). Because current public health strategies rely on reactive biological sampling that suffers from significant laboratory time lags, recreational users are often left exposed to undetected risks. This study introduces PAMSHIELD, a responsive web-based diagnostic tool designed to provide real-time, probabilistic risk assessments. The system utilizes a weighted logic algorithm that synthesizes critical environmental variables—specifically water temperature, turbidity, residual chlorine, and salinity—to generate an immediate safety score, a capability validated through "Cloud Integration" simulations using continuous IoT sensor streams. Results indicate that the algorithm successfully differentiates between safe and critical conditions by prioritizing biological inhibitors; specifically, the system correctly triggered safety overrides when free chlorine exceeded 0.5 mg/L or salinity exceeded 20 ppt, while accurately flagging high-turbidity thermal events (>30°C) as critical risks. By bridging environmental biology with modern web technologies, PAMSHIELD offers a scalable, proactive technological intervention for public health, potentially reducing fatal exposure events in warming aquatic environments where traditional testing is too slow to be effective.
Institutions: Kerala Agricultural University, Amity University
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Kerala Agricultural University
OpenAlex ID: W7225153266