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A brain-eating amoeba causes trouble in Texas (United States).

It ends up in the Lake Jackson drinking water distribution system.

So the Texas Environmental Quality Commission has strongly advised against running water in eight cities in the southeastern state,

Slate

reports

.

This decision follows the death of a 6-year-old boy on September 8 at the Houston Children's Hospital.

The young victim allegedly ingested Naegleria fowleri, otherwise known as "brain-eating amoeba".

This causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.

The amoeba attacks the brain, leaving very little chance of survival.

Few survivors

Between 1962 and 2018, 145 people were infected in the United States by this amoeba and only four survived according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports

CNN

.

The microorganism enters the human body through the nose.

His favorite terrain: lukewarm, stagnant water.

According to the parents of the deceased child, their son had fun in a pond but also with garden hoses at his home.

After analyzes of the two possible sources of contamination, the CDC concluded that they contained traces of the amoeba.

Precautionary measures implemented

The commission on environmental quality therefore took the decision to advise residents who depend on the drinking water distribution circuit not to consume it.

But this recommendation was only maintained at Lake Jackson.

In this city of 27,000 inhabitants, it is always advisable to boil the water that you drink or use for cooking.

It is obviously not recommended to wash your face with it, the water being able to enter the nose.

Until the situation is under control, a water supply has been set up.

Naegleria fowleri is regularly talked about.

Earlier this month, a young American who had bathed in a lake and river in Texas, and who had ingested amoeba, died after two weeks in hospital.

Science

A young American succumbs to the "brain-eating" amoeba

World

VIDEO.

United States: American killed by "brain-eating" amoeba at water park

  • Health

  • Brain

  • United States

  • Texas

  • Potable water

  • Infection