Posted on 08/04/2015 5:52:32 AM PDT by ETL
Public officials are in the process of eliminating Naegleria Fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba, from two drinking water supplies in Louisiana.
Naegleria Fowleri was detected during routine tests last week at a utility district in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, roughly 25 miles from Baton Rouge.
The water system serves roughly 1,800 throughout the rural town. Three other systems in the area were tested with negative results, according to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH).
While officials say the water is safe for drinking, residents are urged to use caution with the water, not letting it get into their nose. Humans are infected when water containing the amoeba travels through the nose and migrates to the brain, destroying the tissue.
"We want to emphasize that the water is completely safe to drink. The amoeba cannot survive your stomach acid and is harmless when consumed in this manner," the DHH said in a release posted on their Facebook page last week.
A 60-day free chlorine burn will be completed to eliminate the amoeba, officials said. According to the DHH, the chlorine burn will help reduce biofilm, or organic buildup, throughout the water system and will kill the amoeba.
The amoeba is commonly found in in warm freshwater such as lakes, ponds and hot springs. The DHH stated that water sites are routinely tested as temperatures rise during the summer months.
Temperatures in the New Orleans area have been running about 3 degrees Fahrenheit above normal the past three weeks, AccuWeather Meteorologist Steve Travis said. Normal highs hit in the low 90s for this time of year.
The Ascension Parish site is the second site to test positive for the amoeba within the last few weeks.
A site at St. Bernard Parish, roughly 15 miles from New Orleans, is where the amoeba was detected July 22. A chlorine burn is underway to eliminate the deadly amoeba.
"We are taking precautionary measures that DHH approves of and would ask our residents to follow the rules that DHH has provided," Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez said.
Published on Sep 18, 2013
The brain-eating amoeba has caused quite a stir in the U.S, after infecting 2 kids this month alone. Naegleria Flowleri is the organism that kills human beings by getting into the nose and finding its way to the brain. It then feeds on the brain cells and causes a disease called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which results in death.
Symptoms:
Initial symptoms of PAM start about 5 days (range 1 to 7 days) after infection.
1. Changes in Smell and Taste, or you may seem to have NO smell or taste.
2. headache, fever, and vomiting.
3. Stiff neck, confusion and inability to focus.
4. Loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations. At this point you can’t walk or talk much, so you are going to be hospitalized.
Finally, The disease is going to progress rapidly and you will die in about 6 days.
How to Prevent this deadly disease?
1. Drinking this water is OK, but make sure water doesn’t go up your nose.
2. Use plenty of chlorine in the swimming pool. Or avoid playing in fresh water and go to the beach.
3. Use nose clips when swimming or diving.
4. Avoid nose irrigation and religious dip under water.
5. Don’t do submerging tricks and blowing nose bubbles under water.
6. If you do get into a lake or pond, keep your head above water and don’t stir up the sediment at the bottom.
7. Go to good, standard water parks.
Treatment:
Your chance of survival dramatically increases if you get medical help right away. If you see the symptoms, go to the doctor immediately and tell him that you might have a serious infection. Treatment involves Surgery & Experimental Drug - Impavido. But other than that, no approved effective drugs so far.
There are no vaccines either for this disease.The fatality rate is Over 99%, so unless you are very lucky, you won’t survive.
(the above is a transcript of what's said in the video)
Teen dies of rare disease caused by "brain-eating" amoeba
By David W Freeman, CBS News
November 2, 2011
Courtney Nash, 16, fell ill and died of the rare disease after swimming in a river that harbored the infectious microbes, the CDC confirmed on Monday. The girl's family says she died Saturday afternoon.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-dies-of-rare-disease-caused-by-brain-eating-amoeba/
Minnesota teen dies from suspected brain-eating amoeba
By John Newsome and Mariano Castillo, CNN
(CNN)A brain-eating amoeba might be behind the death of a 14-year-old boy in Minnesota, health officials say.
Hunter Boutain became ill after swimming in Lake Minnewaska, in the west-central area of the state. He died Thursday.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/10/health/minnesota-suspected-brain-eating-amoeba/index.html
They may need to check the following states too: CA, OR, WA, IL, MI, NY, NJ, PA, RI, DC, FL actually all northern eastern states. Havevseen stron indications of brain rot from those states since 2008
>> While officials say the water is safe for drinking, residents are urged to use caution with the water, not letting it get into their nose.
In other words “don’t drink it while surfing martin_fierro or Slings and Arrows threads on FR”. :-)
>> Have seen strong indications of brain rot from those states
I wonder if they have sampled the Potomac River lately...
You’re welcome.
Thank you for posting this, ETL. TBH, I have never heard of it before. I feel sorry for all those people who are now just waiting to see if they or their family members start showing symptoms. Although the info states that drinking it is “ok”, every person who has taken a bath or shower is at risk (unless for some reason they didn’t rinse their hair or wash their face).
Wonderful, just wonderful! Now I have to worry about getting water up my nose when I shampoo my hair and bathe!
Went swimming this weekend and despite my warnings, my daughters each got water up their nose. Grandma calmed us down, but I prayed over them. We live not too far from Lake Minnewaska, the tragedy hits close to home.
What a tragedy.
Wonder if you can do something preventively after swimming. Like a saltwater rinse of the nasal cavities?
Very scary. We have a wonderful farm pond. We don’t swim per se but we float. Up until this week though it was actually cold. It’s spring fed and very local watershed but birds could bring it in. How do we test for it?
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/diagnosis.html
I’d send a sample to a lab, but if you know what to look for, maybe you could see them in a microscope.
How did it jump from the public school system to the water supply?
7. Go to good, standard water parks.
I recall reading about an incident involving amoeba’s in the water at a waterpark a few years ago.
It’s a simple microbe. I imagine they get around quite easily.
I suppose they mean where the water is regularly tested and properly treated with chlorine, etc.
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