This combo of images provided by the Center for Disease Control shows the Naegleria fowleri amoeba in the cyst stage, left, trophozoite stage, center and the flagellated stage, right.NEW ORLEANS – While officials try to pin down the source of a deadly amoeba found in the water supply of a suburban New Orleans community, bottled water sales in St. Bernard Parish have skyrocketed and some people worry about washing their faces in the shower.
That’s despite experts who say the only danger is to people who manage to get the microscopic organism way up their noses. Its only entry to the brain is through minute openings in a bone about level with the top of the eyeball, said Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana’s state epidemiologist.
But belief comes hard to many people. “As far as taking a bath or shower, you got no other choice,” said Debbie Sciortino. “But I ain’t drinking it, I ain’t giving it to the dogs and I ain’t cooking with it either.”
The state Department of Health and Hospitals on Thursday tried to dispel common “myths and rumors” about the amoeba Naegleria fowleri – starting with the notion that the parish water isn’t safe to drink. Meanwhile, the parish held a public meeting about its water Thursday night.
The worries began Sept. 12, when the state health department reported that parish water in Violet and Arabi tested positive for the amoeba that had killed a 4-year-old Mississippi boy in August after he visited St. Bernard Parish