Brain-Eating Amoebas Found in New Orleans Water Supply

Credit: CDC

     The people of New Orleans are frantically buying bottled water for use with everyday functions because of their contaminated water supply, says the LA Times. Recently discovered in the everyday water supply of a New Orleans suburb, Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba that not only makes humans sick, but eats away brain cells.      The amoeba was found when a little boy died on a Slip-n-Slide in August. Testing traced the death of the 4-year-old to a rare brain-eating amoeba. The discovery marks the first time the amoeba has entered a treated water supply in the US, according to Jonathan Yoder, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He states that when the amoeba enters the nose, it travels along the nerves and crosses into the brain through tiny openings in the bone at the base of the forehead.
     Health officials traced the amoeba to the St. Bernard Parish water system that fed the slide. Parish officials flushed the water source with chlorine as a precaution and will continue to do so for weeks to come.     There have been three deaths since 2011 from the brain-eating amoeba and health officials hope that no one else gets sick. The people of New Orleans are continuing to use bottled water for everything, including showering.

-Jessie Ritz