A portion of a Louisiana water system tested positive for the “brain-eating amoeba,” officials said Friday.
Part of the south Bossier Parish water system had Naegleria fowleri, which is typically found in warm freshwater, according to a random test conducted by the Louisiana Department of Health, the Shreveport Times reported.
Naegleria fowleri occurs in warm freshwater. Typically people are infected when contaminated water enters through their nose, not by ingesting it. It is normally fatal. Only four people out of 143 infected between 1962 and 2017 survived, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The water system will undergo a 60-day "chlorine burn," where a higher level of chlorine will be used to clean it, KTBS reported.
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