A 4-year-old boy has died Thursday from an illness caused by the brain-eating Naegleria fowleri amoeba after playing on a water slide in Louisiana, according to WWLTV.
According to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, the child whose identity has not been released, contracted encephalitis while vising a home in St. Bernard Parish. The DHH says the water supply at the home tested positive for the amoeba.
According to The Advocate, preliminary tests showed that water on the inflatable toy was contaminated by Naegleria fowleri amoeba, which also turned up in a hose attached to an outdoors faucet and in a toilet tank inside the home.
"We are working with the parish to make sure precautionary measures are being taken while we await additional test results on samples taken from the area's water system," said a member of the Louisiana region's Health Department.
The state of Florida issued a warning related to the brain-eating amoeba in August, urging parents and caretakers to keep children away from shallow or warm waters as they offer the ideal breading ground for this rare amoeba.
Between 2001 and 2010, there were only 32 reported cases of people getting Naegleria fowleri in the United States, according to the CDC. Most of the cases have been in the Southeast. Meanwhile, out of the 128 cases in the past half-century, there have only been two patients who survived, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Late last month, 12-year-old Zachary Reyna died from the same brain-eating amoeba after becoming infected with the disease while kneeboarding with friends in a water-filled ditch by his house.
