A brain-eating amoeba has once again contaminated the water of St. Bernard parish, health officials in Louisiana confirmed.

The pathogenic amoeba called Naegleria fowleri was found via leaky sample station prompting the LA State Department of Health to order the Parish to implement an extensive 60-day chlorine burn to kill the organism and decontaminate the water supply, ABC News has learned. And "out of an abundance of caution," the Parish has agreed to comply.

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"DHH Safe Drinking Water Program staff sampled seven sites along the St. Bernard Parish Water System. Two of the seven sites tested positive for the amoeba," the Louisiana State department of health and hospitals (DHH) disclosed.

"One positive test was at a site at the water treatment plant before the water was treated. The second positive test occurred at 948 Angela Street, which may have been contaminated by ground water due to a leak at the sampling station. Chlorine levels at the site of the positive sample did meet the 0.5 mb/l requirement," the health department continued to explain.

And while N. fowleri is considered a naturally occurring pathogen in freshwater, it can be very fatal once it enters the body through the nose and travel to the brain causing the lethal Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM). Ingestion or skin exposure to N. fowleri do not cause infection.

"You don't [want] water up into the nose", Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical School said, according to Sentinel Republic.

According to Schaffner, residents should take extra precaution to avoid infection by keeping their pool chlorinated and preventing kids from playing with hoses to stay cool.

In 2013, a 4-year-old lad reportedly passed away in the parish following an infection with N. fowleri while playing on a slip-n-slide.

"DHH conducts sampling of public drinking water systems for Naegleria fowleri each summer when temperatures rise. So far, DHH has tested 12 other systems for the ameba and still awaiting lab results for each," the state health department said, Pioneer News reported.

Furthermore, St. Bernard Parish President David Peralta added, "At this point that's a decision that the DHH has to make. We trust their expertise in this field. We do we feel that the system is fine and this was an anomaly." 

TagsBrain-Eating Amoeba, Louisiana, water contamination