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Texas boy, 6, dies from brain-eating amoeba contaminating city water supply, disaster declared

Lake Jackson officials issued the disaster declaration on Saturday, and put it under a 'do not use water order'
PUBLISHED SEP 27, 2020
(Texas Commission Of Environmental Quality)
(Texas Commission Of Environmental Quality)

2020 continues to dole out horrors, and this time it's in the Texan city of Lake Jackson. Disaster has been declared, as a brain-eating amoeba was found in their local water supply, tested after a six-year-old boy died early in September. Josiah McIntyre died on September 8 after playing in the water in Lake Jackson. Officials say that the amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, could have entered the 6-year-old's body at a splash pad in the city, or from a hose in the family home.

City officials issued the disaster declaration on Saturday, and put it under a "do not use water order," and has requested an emergency declaration from the state. 
"The City of Lake Jackson, County of Brazoria, Texas, is facing significant threats to life, health and property due to contaminated drinking water," the city said in its emergency request to Governor Greg Abbott. "The impact of this threat is severe. The potential damages include: sickness and death." 

The amoeba is fatal if it enters through the nose, with 90 to 95 per cent of people who are infected dying within a week. Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain, where it causes Primary amoebic meningoenephalitis, which causes inflammation and destruction of the brain and the linings. It is a rare disease and there have been around 35 cases reported in the US, in the past decade. The single-celled organism is commonly found in warm freshwater, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs, as well as in soil. City residents have been told not to use the tap water. Authorities said the advisory will remain in place until the water system has been thoroughly flushed and tests on water samples show the system's water is again safe to use.

In August, a Florida boy died after getting infected with the amoeba within days. Tanner Lake Wall, died after a family vacation to a North Florida campground equipped with a water park and lake. In July, the Florida Department of Health announced that another case was reported in Hillsborough County.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that people cannot get infected by swallowing contaminated water, and it is not infectious, meaning, it cannot be passed from person to person. The symptoms of those infected by Naegleria fowleri include fever, nausea and vomiting, as well as a stiff neck and headaches and they die within a week. 

Regarding the 6-year-old, Modesto Mundo, the city manager, said: "The notification to us at that time was that he has played at one of play fountains and he may have also played with a water hose at the home," He also conveyed to KCENTV that the city of 27,000 people, 50 miles south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico, closed the splash pad immediately after the boy's death.  

At first, the test results were negative. On September 17, the officials devised a second set of tests with the CDC, the Brazoria County health department and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Their attempts were slowed down by Tropical Storm Beta, but on September 22 multiple tests were carried out in Lake Jackson, and on September 25 they were confirmed to be positive for the amoeba at three of the 11 sites in the city. Those positive samples included water from the Lake Jackson Civic Center Splash Pad, the family's home hose bib and a dead end fire hydrant close to the splash pad in downtown. 

"We're surprised just as everybody that the tests came back for the system," Mundo said. "But now that it's been detected in three separate spots that's where the questions come up: is it in the system?" Mundo also asserted that 50 per cent of the city's water comes from the Brazoria Water Authority and the other half comes from wells. 

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