Posted:2018-09-30 10:51:04 UTC-07:00
A portion of a water system in Louisiana has tested positive for a brain-eating amoeba, according to the operator of the water system. Andy Freeman, the operator of Sligo Water System, said residents in south Bossier Parish southeast of Shreveport may be affected. The Louisiana Department of Health conducted a random test of the system last week and notified the system of the positive result Friday, Freeman said. Sligo had purchased the water that tested positive for the amoeba from Bossier City. Sligo has disconnected from Bossier City water and is now using well water to supply those customers, Freeman said. Other Sligo testing sites did not have the amoeba, Freeman said. Sligo already was concerned about chlorine levels, so it began flushing the affected portion of the water Wednesday, Freeman said. The water system has been instructed to initiate a free chlorine burn for the next 60 days. The state has not issued a boil-water order, Freeman said. The amoeba, naegleria fowleri, is commonly found in warm freshwater and soil. It usually infects people when it enters the body through the nose and later the brain. You cannot get infected by swallowing the water. Attempts to contact Traci Landry, a Bossier City spokesperson, were not successful before publication. Sligo normally serves water users with well water, but dry conditions had prompted it to buy Bossier City water, Freeman said.
Event summary
Biological Hazard in USA on September 30 2018 05:51 PM (UTC).
Base data Geographic information Number of affected people Biohazard information
Common Alerting Protocol information
Category Env Pollution and other environmental
Certainty Observed Determined to have occurred or to be ongoing
Scope Public For general dissemination to unrestricted audiences
Severity Extreme Extraordinary threat to life or property
Urgency Past Responsive action is no longer required
Base data
EDIS Number BH-20180930-64864-USA
Event type Biological Hazard
Date/Time September 30 2018 05:51 PM (UTC)
Last update September 30 2018 05:53 PM (UTC)
Cause of event
Reliability of information Authentic source : Information from trusted source (newspapers, emails, websites). Reliability: at least 70%
Damage level Is not or not known Damage level
Affected area County-level : Event affected one county.
Geographic information
Continent North-America
Country USA
County / State State of Louisiana
Area Bossier Parish
Settlement
Coordinate 32.76, -93.66
Number of affected people / Humanities loss
Dead person(s) 0
Injured person(s) 0
Missing person(s) 0
Evacuated/rescued person(s) 0
Affected person(s) 0
Foreign people 0
Biohazard information
Biohazard level 3/4 - Hight
Biohazard description Bacteria and viruses that can cause severe to fatal disease in humans, but for which vaccines or other treatments exist, such as anthrax, West Nile virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, SARS virus, variola virus (smallpox), tuberculosis, typhus, Rift Valley fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Among parasites Plasmodium falciparum, which causes Malaria, and Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes trypanosomiasis, also come under this level.
Disease, agent name Naegleria fowleri
Infected person(s) 0
Species 2
Status 1
Symptomes unlisted
make your own water instead from a freezer ;)
