Potentially lethal to humans, the Naegleria fowleri bacteria enters the body through the nose, travels to the brain and progresses rapidly, leading to death in a week in most cases.
While the world is battling the coronavirus pandemic, there is another local contamination issue that Texas in the US is having to deal with at the moment.
The southern US state’s officials have warned residents of some communities near Houston to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe.
“The Brazosport Water Authority is issuing a Do Not Use Advisory for all water in the following cities: Lake Jackson, Freeport, Angleton, Brazoria, Richwood, Oyster Creek, Clute, Rosenburg, Dow Chemical, TDCJ Clemens and TDCJ Wayne Scott, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality alerted its residents.
Naegleria fowleri is a microscopic amoeba commonly found in warm freshwater and soil, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It usually infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose, from where it travels to the brain and can cause a rare and debilitating disease called primary amebic meningoencephalitis.
The infection is usually fatal and typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places such as lakes and rivers. In very rare instances, Naegleria infections may also occur when contaminated water from other sources, such as inadequately chlorinated swimming pool water or heated and contaminated tap water, enters the nose.❐
