Do Not Use Water Advisory issued to 8 Texas cities as water supply contains brain-eating amoeba

With coronavirus pandemic taking the toll on the globe with most of the people being affected, on one hand, there are yet other viruses hitting the world. In the latest development, the residents of were issued warning signal to southeast Texas of a brain wating amoeba was reportedly found in th water supply, wherein one of the cities issues disaster declaration.

According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, a water advisory was issued to the by Brazosport Water Authority warning. The customers were warned not to use any water as it contains a Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba. Meanwhile, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on the direction of the Governor's Office along with Brazosport Water Authority to come out of the problem soon.

The brain-eating amoeba is mostly found in soil, warm lakes, rivers, and hot springs also it is found in unchlorinated pools and in water discharged from industrial plants. The eight cities, which have been advised are Lake Jackson, Freeport, Angleton, Brazoria, Richwood, Oyster Creek, Clute and Rosenberg, Texas, as well as for the Dow Chemical plant in Freeport and the Clemens and Wayne Scott Texas Department of Criminal Justice corrections facilities.

Lake Jackson city has been issued a disaster declaration and residents were directed not to use water until the Brazosport Water Authority has completed an adequate flush out of its water system, according to TCEQ. The incident has come to fire after a 6-year-old boy was hospitalised with the amoeba. It is expected that the boy would be affected from water fountain splash pad or through a water supply from hose at his home.

While the authorities have closed the splash pad and in the operation of conducting tests on five-gallon water, however, the results came back negative on September 14 for Naegleria fowleri. The CDC has launched another test. In the later tests carried out by Texas Department on September 25, three of the 11 water samples tested positive for Naegleria fowleri, which led Brazosport Water Authority issue a Do Not Use water advisory.

It is reported that by CDC that Naegleria fowleri infections are rare most are fatal. According to the CDC, four out of 145 people who infected from 1962 to 2018 were survived from the disease.