Brain eating amoeba fears on the rise after causing several deaths in Louisiana since 2011.
The Louisiana officials have warned the residents to be careful after a deadly brain eating amoeba was found in a parish water supply. Over 12,500 residents in St. John Parish are at risk of amoeba.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals stated that the brain eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, was found in the water systems of St. John the Baptist Parish's Water District Number 1 which serves 12,577 residents.
The microscopic brain eating amoeba can be lethal if contaminated water travels through the nasal passages to the brain. The microscopic pathogen can cause a fatal form of meningitis or the swelling of the brain and other surrounding tissues. However, officials said that the pathogenic amoeba cannot be contracted from drinking contaminated water.
Officials found the water supply did not have the required chlorine level disinfectant and was susceptible to contamination from the brain eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri. But the source of the contamination was not found. Currently, there have been no reports of infections from the pathogenic microorganism in the area.
In order to eliminate the dangerous pathogens, The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals will flush the water system with extra high levels of chlorine for sixty days to destroy any remaining brain eating amoebas in the system.
While the pathogen is tremendously occasional, the amoeba was responsible for at least three deaths in Louisiana parishes since 2011. A 4-year old boy was killed from St Bernard Parish after contracting the infection from using a slip-in-slide last year. And this summer, a 9-year old girl from Kansas died after being infected with the pathogen.
Louisiana State Health Officer Jimmy Guidry said that families can take simple steps to protect themselves from exposure to this brain eating amoebas, the most important being able to avoid allowing the water to go up your nose while bathing or swimming in a pool. He also added that it is important to remember that the water is safe to drink and that the amoeba cannot infect an individual through the stomach.
Conferring to the US Centers for Disease Control, the indications of an infection from Naegleria fowleri include headache, fever and nausea. Infected people can have seizures, altered mental status, hallucinations and can slip into a coma as the infection progresses. According to the CDC, the infection is almost always fatal. In the United States, between 1963 and 2013, just three people out of the 132 infected managed to survive the infection.
In line with the infection, residents are being urged to take precautions to avoid and prevent the infection caused by the brain eating amoeba.
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