According to reports, a potentially fatal brain-eating amoeba was found in a water system supplying water to almost 97,000 people in the Houma region in Terrebonne Parish; however, state health regulators have said that the water is potable.
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Officials from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) confirmed the presence of a brain-eating amoeba located in the local water system of Terrebonne Parish.
“It tested 0.4, which is lower than 0.5”, he added, noting this was the only point in the water system susceptible to the amoeba.
DHH has asked officials of the system to increase chlorine levels for 60 days in order to make sure that any amoebas, if remaining in the water system, are removed.
A 60-day chlorine burn is scheduled for the district to purge the pathogen from the system.
A second site tested negative for the amoeba, but it was also below the “requirement for chloramine disinfectant levels”, the DHH said.
It is especially terrifying, though, when Naegleria fowleri is found in our water system. Positive results for the ameba have previously been discovered this summer in St. Bernard and Ascension parishes. Officials are inputting safety precautions by continuing the chlorine-burn in those areas.
The Naegleria fowleri amoeba is known to cause a type of brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis in which the microorganism destroys the tissues of an infected person’s brain. In its early stages, symptoms may be similar to bacterial meningitis. Residents should therefore be cautious when splashing water upon their face, such as when showering, bathing, or cooling off in sprinkler systems or hoses.
DO run bath and shower taps and hoses for five minutes before use to flush out the pipes.
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DO use only boiled and cooled, distilled or sterile water for making sinus rinse solutions for neti pots or performing ritual ablutions. Do not top off the pool by placing the hose in the body of the pool.
