A brain-eating amoeba has been detected in the water of a Louisiana parish, and officials are warning residents to watch out.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospital announced they had found the Naegleria fowleri amoeba in water from St. John the Baptist Parish, ABC News reported.
The amoeba can cause a fatal form of meningitis, but it cannot be contracted from drinking contaminated water. There have not been any local reports of infection. The amoeba can be deadly if inhaled through the nose and into the brain.
The Department of Health found the water system did not maintain a minimum disinfectant residual level required by the state's emergency rule. The parish says it tested its water daily and were unsure of why the disinfectant levels were so low, USA Today reports.
"Clearly, as we get to exactly what has happened in this case, the protocol will be revisited, and if changes are necessary we will take care of that," Parish President Natalie Robottom told USA Today.
To kill the pathogen, the department will have to flush the system with high levels of chlorine for 60 days, ABC reported. The water will still be safe to drink
"Families can take simple steps to protect themselves from exposure to this amoeba, the most important being to avoid allowing water to go up your nose while bathing or swimming in a pool," Louisiana State Health Officer Jimmy Guidry told ABC. "It is important to remember that the water is safe to drink; the amoeba cannot infect an individual through the stomach."
The first stage of illness caused by the amoeba is characterized by a severe frontal headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. Symptoms of the second stage involve a stiff neck, seizures, altered mental states, hallucinations and coma.
The disease is extremely fatal - there have only been four known survivors in North America since the 1970s.
