Brain-eating amoeba found in Louisiana drinking water again

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A potentially deadly brain-eating amoeba has been detected in a Louisiana neighborhood’s drinking water — the third time the terrifying discovery has been made in the same parish since 2015, reports said.

Naegleria fowleri, which causes fatal brain swelling and tissue destruction, was found over the weekend in Terrebonne Parish, deep in the Louisiana bayou about an hour south of New Orleans, WWL-TV reported.

“It kinda freaks me out because this is my home, I can’t do what I usually do,” Lindsey Dupre told WWL-TV. “I want to know I’m secure rather than freak out over an amoeba.”

All freshwater sources in the parish have been affected, including drinking water, the water in the bayous and pools, plus water used for showers and baths.

The water is “perfectly safe to drink,” claimed Michael Sobert from Consolidated Waterworks, “it’s just not safe to get up your nose.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said infection usually occurs when people go swimming in areas where the amoeba is present or when drinking water enters the nose — it can’t be contracted simply from drinking water contaminated with the organism.

Officials have switched from using chloramine […]

Full article: Brain-eating amoeba found in Louisiana drinking water again

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