Texas city performs 60 day water purge following child’s death by brain-eating amoeba

A city in Texas where a six-year-old boy is thought to have been killed by a brain-eating amoeba is being forced to purge its water system for 60 days to ensure the safety of its supply.

Doctors believe that six-year-old Josiah McIntyre died on 8 September from the ingestion of naegleria fowleri, a deadly brain eating amoeba which he may have contracted either from the hose at his home.

Following the sudden death, city officials launched an investigation that revealed the deadly organism in three of 11 water samples taken in the city, a community of about 26,000 residents 55 miles south of Houston, and issued a disaster declaration.

City Manager Modesto Mundo of Lake Jackson said that one of the samples that revealed naegleria fowleri came from the home of Josiah’s family.