The Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals issued warning to residents of St. Bernard Parish after the officials found a brain-eating amoeba in drinking water of the area. The officials said the brain-eating parasite was found during two separate state tests at two different places.

According to Examiner.com, the local water authorities have been instructed to start a chlorine ‘burn’ which would increase the chlorine levels in the drinking water and will remove the threat.

Naegleria fowleri, the deadly amoeba usually lives in warm, fresh water and is responsible for very rare and serious infection called amebic meningoencephalitis. According to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC), the illness is contracted by patients who get water up their nose while swimming or during other activities in the water. CDC confirmed that the illness cannot be contracted through drinking the water.

As per reports, in 2003 two children in Arizona died from PAM where the amoeba was dispersed in areas of plumbing where the water could stand and then become warm. The diseased kids had contact with water while they were playing in bath tub.

Now, in 2015, a four-year-old boy died in Louisiana from PAM. Data released showed that the boy had no past history of playing in fresh water, however, he frequented a water slide at his home.

The CDC said in a statement that the disease is very rare and that they have reports of 133 cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis between 1962 and 2014. “Infected people were often reported to have participated in water-related activities such as swimming underwater, diving, and head dunking that could have caused water to go up the nose”, it said.