Authorities have found a brain-eating amoeba in the public water supply in southeastern Texas, in the United States, leading to advising residents of several American cities to avoid drinking tap water.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality advised all those living in Lake Jackson, Freeport, Angleton, Brazoria, Richwood, Oyster Creek, Clute, and Rosenberg not to use tap water for any reason except to flush toilets.
The warning comes after Josiah McIntyre , just 6 years old, died on Tuesday, September 8, after becoming infected with N. fowleri. Initially, doctors weren't sure what caused the boy's illness, so they ran tests of all kinds, including for COVID-19. After also analyzing the water he drank, they detected the pathogen.
This microbe is a single-celled living organism commonly found in warm fresh water and soil. It can cause a brain infection called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis that leads to destruction of the brain and its linings. It enters through the nose and works its way to the brain; there it multiplies and begins to devour brain tissue. It is almost always fatal, leading to the death of the patient.
The CDC maintains that we cannot become infected with the amoeba by drinking contaminated water, but we can if the water enters the nose.
