Discovery
A boilwater notice was lifted from the drinkingwater system of a Houston-area city where water tainted with a deadly, microscopic parasite was blamed for the death of a 6-year-old boy.
In a statement, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said Lake Jackson officials lifted the notice after disinfectant levels in the drinking water were documented to be above the state requirements. Also, water samples tested negative for harmful bacteria.
However, the TCEQ urged users of Lake Jackson’s water to avoid getting it up their noses to reduce the risk of infection by the brain-eating microbe naegleria fowleri.
The boil-water notice was issued late last month after several days of flushing of the Brazosport Water Authority’s water delivery system.
The flushing was ordered after three of 11 samples of the Lake Jackson’s water tested positive for the deadly flagellate.
One sample came from the home of Josiah McIntyre, the 6-year-old boy whom doctors said died earlier this month after being infected with the brain-eating parasite, city officials said.
The deadly amoeba does not cause an infection if it is in water that a person drinks as it is killed by normal levels of stomach acid. However, people can be infected when water containing the microbe enters the body through the nose
Republican Gov Greg Abbott, who issued a disaster declaration for Lake Jackson, has said all indications point to the case being isolated and that the suspected problem in the boy’s death was traced back to a splash pad.
“This is a terrible tragedy that made something that was rare, and even vanishingly rare, actually happen,” said John Hellersedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. (AP)