Running Head: Eight Cups of Amoeba a Day?

Eight cups of Amoeba a Day?

Tankkia Brown
Sol C. Johnson High School
November 2015

Eight Cups of Amoeba a Day?

Two years ago a bacteria named amoeba appeared within the New Orleans water system
causing great fear among thousands of individuals. The cause was thought to have been taken

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care of but rose once again in the year of 2015. First found in St. Bernard Parish, officials took
control tests of other areas within their perimeter. The test results for two of those seven sites
came up positive for this deadly virus.(Hubbard, 2015, pg 1)
This recurrence caused the health department to issue a statement telling New Orleans
civilians that the virus had once again resurfaced. Through this document they also added that it
was very harmless as only ten deaths had come from amoeba in the past. Although, three of the
ten were from Louisiana, individuals were cautioned to keep tap water away from their noses. By
doing this, you are allowing a greater chance for amoeba to get into the nerves of your brain
which is very deadly. (Wa, 2015, pg 1) This mostly happens with children.
One of the biggest concerns with this dilemma is that when testing the tap water, the test
came back with irregular results..(Hubbard, 2015, pg 1) Amoeba is killed with chlorine, but in
these samples the chlorine met the standard at which it was suppose to be, but the bacteria still
survived. Their reaction to this was to add more chlorine in order to dissolve all amoeba. Yes,
this gets rid of that one problem but could cause other. What if adding this extra chlorine wasn't
necessarily safe for everyone? If the amoeba came back would they keep adding chlorine? If this
was the case we would eventually end up drinking chlorine not water.
New Orleans Felt as if they couldn't do much besides give guidelines. All of them
revolved around not allowing any water by your nose. Some examples are avoiding jumping into
pools because the water would go directly up your nose canal, avoiding slip and sides because
there is a possibility that sliding can again cause for easy access to the brain nerves. Lastly, if
using tap water to fill a pool that also contains chlorine to make sure you put the water in through
the filter first to lessen the chances of more amoeba getting into your pool. This last one also ties
in with the first option of this group..(Hubbard, 2015, pg 1) These are all helpful but they are all

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avoiding the real problem. These were just restrictions on people's lives, Instead of badgering
people about what not to do they should go straight for the problem.
The New Orleans Health Department should instead find out why these amoebas are
surviving these harsh chlorine levels. In most cases it means that the bacteria is becoming
immune or has new internal properties we don't know about, helping to dodge being killed.
If we dont get this under control now there is no doubt that it can and will spread to other places
around this perimeter. Once that happens the outcome could be horrific because if infected with
entamoeba it's no revival. Once this bacteria gets to your brain cells you are classified as dead.
(Wa, 2015, pg 1) The government and all doctors know this so why not try any and everything
to kill what could possibly kill us?
Take this water sample as you did before and find out why this amoeba won't disappear
and do everything in power to kill it before young children are harmed. I say children because
children are the ones that are statistically shown to have been affected by this the most. If this is
the case why not help our future as a whole by preventing deaths of our youth who will create
our future by doing a research project and constructing a real solution to the problem completely.
Not just to solve it for the moment until it resurfaces. In conclusion amoeba is a deadly virus that
could cause death and fear among many, but should be solved instead of silenced.

References
Amoebic meningitis. (2015). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from
http://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Healthy-WA/Articles/A_E/Amoebic-meningitis

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Hubbard, S. (2015, July 24). Brain-Eating Amoeba in New Orleans-Area Drinking Water.
Retrieved November 16, 2015, from http://www.newsmax.com/Health/Health-News/amoebaNaegleria-fow

leri-New-Orleans-water/2015/07/24/id/658793/