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Texas authorities are warning communities not to use tap water due to fears of a brain-eating amoeba infection – Photo: Guardian
According to CNN, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Management (TCEQ) issued a warning on Sept. 26 on the use of tap water from the local water supply unit, Brazosport Water Authority, after detecting the brain-eating amoeba. Naegleria. fowleri in water sources.
The alerts were broadcast to more than 120,000 residents in the cities of Lake Jackson, Freeport, Angleton, Brazoria, Richwood, Oyster Creek, Clute and Rosenberg in Texas. Even the city of Lake Jackson has declared a disaster situation, asking people to use absolutely no tap water, except to flush toilets, until the water supply system is cleaned.
The incident began in early September 2020 when Lake Jackson discovered that a 6-year-old boy infected with amoeba was hospitalized and the cause was determined to be from water sources.
The Brazosport Water Authority said the water they provided came from the Brazos River. Cleaning the water supply system is expected to take approximately 3 days.
The brain-eating amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) is a single-celled microorganism commonly found in soil and fresh water, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Brains generally follow dirty water that enters the body through the nose, then travels to the brain and causes a rare and dangerous disease called encephalitis, the primary meningitis caused by amoeba.
Naegleria fowleri infection is rare but very fatal. Of a total of 145 people infected between 1962 and 2018 in the US, only 4 survived. From 2009 to 2018, the country registered 34 cases of amoebic infection.