Posted on 09/20/2013 5:48:56 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A deadly brain amoeba that’s killed two boys this year has been found in a U.S. drinking water supply system for the first time, officials said Monday -- in a New Orleans-area system.
The Naegleria fowleri parasite killed a 4-year-old Mississippi boy who likely got it playing on a back yard Slip 'N Slide, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say. Tests show it’s present throughout the water supply system in St. Bernard Parish, directly southeast of New Orleans.
“We have never seen Naegleria colonizing a treated water supply before,” said Dr. Michael Beach, head of water safety for the CDC. “From a U.S. perspective this is a unique situation.”
N. fowleri is a heat-loving amoeba that’s usually harmless, unless it gets up someone’s nose. It’s not entirely clear how or why, but in rare instances it can attach to one of the nerves that takes smell signals to the brain. There, the amoeba reproduces and the brain swelling and infection that follows is almost always deadly.
It killed a Miami-area boy last month -- 12-year-old Zachary Reyna -- and a 12-year-old Arkansas girl, Kali Hardig, is recovering slowly after an unusual experimental treatment.
N. fowleri is usually found in warm, fresh waters all over the world. It’s been seen in hot springs and swimming holes, freshwater lakes and even in neti pots used to clean out sinuses. Incomplete disinfection probably allowed it to thrive in St. Bernard, which has its own independent water system, Beach says.....
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Obiwan says I have nothing to worry about.
That is scary.
I remember back in the late 50s my brother had amoebas in his stomach. They were able to treat it tho.
Isee a future "Law & Order SVU" in this.
BookMark
If this had occured during the Bush years, it would be front page news and complaints about not funding the EPA.
“I remember back in the late 50s my brother had amoebas in his stomach. “
________________________________________
Probably as in “Amoebic Dysentery”
Incompetence and/or corruption, my opinion.
That explains alot.
It is still Bush’s fault though.
Let me guess. It’s caused by global warming.
I used to work at a large Summer retreat in the N. C. mountains.
One day I happened upon the guy responsible for the water while he was testing a well. I helped him do something small and asked him about a small stream which came out of the mountains next to the rec area. I asked him if he had ever had the creek water tested.
He said he had and that it contained bacteria tho not so much that it was particularly dangerous. He said he would not drink it tho except in an emergency.
I asked him about the wells and he said there had always been zero bacteria or anything else dangerous in the wells. He said they treated it anyway just to be sure.
Lookin’ more and more like a third world country every day, thanks to the 0bama regime.
I sometimes wonder how many Major Hassan’s there are working in water purification plants across this country. he had a PhD. he was entrusted with a powerful position within our infrastructure. He despised Americans enough to start killing them without regard for his own life. just sayin’.
Democrats, Urban Democrats.
Oddly enough, in the near future there might be an easy way around this. While chlorine is typically used as a water sanitizer, oxygen works just as well, and a new form of electrolysis may use a small current to produce enough oxygen to thoroughly sanitize water.
The US Olympic Swimming Team uses an oxygen sanitized pool because it has fewer negative effects than does chlorine.
I read several years ago that hospitals in France use Oxygen in the form of ozone to sanitize their laundry etc.
Then there’s beer. It got humans through the 15,16,17,1800’s. And more :)
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