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Authorities in Lake Jackson, Texas, have asked residents not to use tap water because it is contaminated with a deadly brain-eating microbe.
The local water authority has warned of possible contamination of its supplies to the city, home to some 27,000 people, with amoeba niglerosis.
It usually affects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. This infection is usually fatal.
Infections of this type of amoebiasis are rare in the United States, with only 34 cases recorded between 2009 and 2018.
Eight districts in Texas County were asked Friday night not to use their water supply for any reason other than flushing toilets. However, the advisory was issued Saturday for all areas except Jackson Lake.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said Lake Jackson residents should continue to avoid using tap water “until the water system is adequately sanitized and samples indicate the water is safe to use.”
The commission added that it was not yet known how long this would take.
Fowler amoeba nigleria are found throughout the world. And the US “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” say that most of the infections that have been recorded in the United States in recent years were due to freshwater contamination in southern states.
The authority indicates that it is not possible to become infected by swallowing contaminated water and that the infection cannot be transmitted from one person to another.
People with Naegleria poultry have symptoms including fever, nausea and vomiting, as well as a stiff neck and headache. Most of them die within a week.
And earlier this year, a case of the same infection was recorded in Florida. Health officials urged locals at the time to avoid touching their noses with tap water and other water sources.
