LAKE JACKSON, Texas — A Houston-area official says it will take 60 days to ensure a city drinking water system is purged of a deadly, microscopic parasite that led to the death of a 6-year-old boy earlier this month.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said earlier this week that it was developing a plan to flush and disinfect the water system.
Mundo says Lake Jackson residents are urged to boil their tap water before using it.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in Brazoria County over the weekend due to the presence of the microbe in the drinking water.
Lake Jackson City Manager Modesto Mundo said Monday that three of 11 samples of the city's water indicated preliminary positive results for the naegleria fowleri microbe.
One sample came from the home of Josiah McIntyre, a 6-year-old boy whom doctors said died earlier this month after being infected with the parasite.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Josiah was tested for strep and COVID-19 when he came down with a fever. It wasn't until the disease had significantly progressed that doctors realized that N. fowleri was the culprit.
"He was an active little boy," Josiah's mother, Maria Castillo, told KTRK-TV in Houston. "He was a really good big brother. He just loved and cared about a lot of people."
