Brain Eating Amoeba Found In Another Louisiana Parish

Authorities first reported a brain eating amoeba's presence in a water system in St. John Parish. They are now announcing tests show the presence of a similar organism in the water system in Sabine Parish. Even thought authorities use the term "brain eating" they say the presence of the single celled organism doesn't mean the water is unusable.

Takeisha Davis , who is Director of the Office of Public Medical Health told the Louisiana Radio Network.

"The still water remains safe to drink.  And the thing to do to limit risk of infection is to limit the amount of water going up a person's nose."

The way the amoeba affects the body is by directly attacking the brain. The shortest and simplest way for the organism to do that is to enter the body via the nasal cavity.

Davis says her department has been working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and thus far has found no persons have been infected or affected by this amoeba,

"We have been working with our federal partners, with the Centers for Disease Control, to come up with a sampling program to actually test for the ameba.  It's not something that's normally tested for."

Still the water supply in Sabine Parish will be treated with a chlorine burn to purify the system . This should effectively eliminate the amoeba once and for all.