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Press conference: A teenager fights against all odds and survives a brain amoeba at the Florida hospital. Video of Craig Rubadoux.

This is the brain tissue that has been attacked by the naegleria fowleri, also called "the amoeba that eats the brain".(Photo: George R. Healy, CDC)

Part of the water supply system serving the south of Bossier Parish has been tested positive for screening a cerebral amoeba, according to the water system operator.

Andy Freeman, the operator of Sligo Water System, said residents of Highway 71 at Red Chute Bayou along Sligo Road could be affected.

The Louisiana Department of Health conducted a random test of the system last week and informed the system Friday, said Freeman.

Sligo had bought the water tested positive for the amoeba from the town of Bossier. Sligo has been disconnected from Bossier City's water and now uses well water to power these customers, Freeman said.

MORE: What is the "rarity" of the disease caused by a cerebral amoeba? Very

Sligo's other test sites did not have an amoeba, Freeman said.

Sligo was already preoccupied with chlorine levels, so he started rinsing the affected part of the water on Wednesday, Freeman said. The water system has been instructed to initiate free chlorine combustion for the next 60 days.

The state did not issue a boiling order, said Freeman.

The amoeba, the naegleria fowleri, is commonly found in warm freshwater and in the soil. It usually infects people when it enters the body through the nose and later into the brain. You can not get infected by swallowing water.

Attempts to contact Bossier City spokesman Traci Landry were unsuccessful prior to publication.

Sligo normally serves water users with well water but, said Freeman, dry conditions have pushed him to buy water from the town of Bossier.

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