Correction: This article initially referred to St. Bernard Parish, La. as a “parish of New Orleans.” St. Bernard Parish is in fact a separate community bordering New Orleans to the southeast.
A brain-eating amoeba responsible for the death of a 4-year-old boy was discovered in the drinking water of St. Bernard Parish, La.’s water system, prompting the area to shut off access to drinking water.
The amoeba is known as Naegleria fowleri, a parasite that thrives in stagnant, warm water, and is not particularly uncommon in fresh water. However, it’s not a parasite that’s typically found in water supply systems, causing those in the New Orleans area to question why and how their water supply became contaminated.
The boy killed by the parasite contracted it while playing on a “Slip ‘n Slide.” In order for a person to be infected, the contaminated water must make its way up a person’s nose. While rare, it does happen. According to NBC News, only three of the 130 people who have been infected throughout the U.S. have survived.
Hurricane Katrina, which occurred in 2005, is considered to be a potential culprit for the contamination. As the area was abandoned following the disaster, the degradation of water systems created a perfect breeding ground for the amoeba.
“Certainly immediately post-Katrina, the St. Bernard [Parish] population was greatly reduced, and to have a water system designed to provide water to that many people and then you lose half of them, part of the concern would be, just from a water quality perspective, that the water would just be sitting in the pipes, aging, and you could have a deterioration of the water quality,” Jake Causey, chief engineer for Louisiana’s Office of Public Health told the Bayoubuzz.
Typically, it’s chlorine that kills the parasite. According to the Center for Disease control, chlorine was not detected in the areas where the amoeba was detected. Four areas in the parish water system have tested positive for the parasite.
Even eight years after Katrina, the population of those using the parish water system has not come close to rebuilding to post-Katrina levels. Before the storm hit, the parish water system supplied water to more than 64,000 residences. Now, just 44,000 are back in the water system.
The question now for those living in the area is why this potential threat, which has already caused one death, was not addressed.
Following the amoeba’s discovery, the Louisiana Department of Health announced it would begin flushing the water supply with chlorine to assure the parasite would be killed.
“We know that chlorine kills Naegleria fowleri, which is why it was critical that the parish proactively began flushing its water system with additional chlorine last week,” Assistant Secretary for Public Health J.T. Lane said in a press release. “The parish will continue this action until it raises chlorine residuals to recommended levels, and this process will continue for several weeks. DHH [Department of Health and Hospitals] is working with parish officials to provide assistance and support to the parish’s staff to ensure that chlorine levels are being monitored daily.”