Literally....
"Brain-eating amoeba rattles nerves in Louisiana parish" by Janet McConnaughey | Associated Press, September 21, 2013
NEW ORLEANS — While officials try to pin down the source of a deadly amoeba found in the water supply of a suburban New Orleans community, bottled water sales in St. Bernard Parish have skyrocketed and some people worry about washing their faces in the shower.
That is despite specialists who say the only danger is to people who manage to get the microscopic organism way up their noses. Its only entry to the brain is through minute openings in a bone about level with the top of the eyeball, said Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana’s state epidemiologist.
But belief comes hard to many people. ‘‘As far as taking a bath or shower, you got no other choice,’’ said Debbie Sciortino. ‘‘But I ain’t drinking it, I ain’t giving it to the dogs, and I ain’t cooking with it either.’’
That's what happens when a population has been perpetually lied to, and once again we have the state authorities minimizing real problems while talking up fart-misting frauds.
The state Department of Health and Hospitals on Thursday tried to dispel common ‘‘myths and rumors’’ about the amoeba Naegleria fowleri — starting with the notion that the parish water is not safe to drink. Meanwhile, the parish held a public meeting about its water Thursday night.
Like I said.
The worries began Sept. 12, when the state health department reported that parish water in Violet and Arabi tested positive for the amoeba that had killed a 4-year-old Mississippi boy in August after he visited St. Bernard Parish
Jonathan Yoder, an epidemiologist in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s waterborne disease prevention branch, said Naegleria has never before been found in water treated by a US water system.
Then where did it come from?
There have been 132 documented infections from the amoeba since 1962, almost all of them fatal, health officials say.
Both of Louisiana’s 2011 infections were of people who used tap water to flush out their sinuses.
I don't think liquids are supposed to go up there.
However, in each of the earlier cases, Yoder said the amoeba was found in the house’s hot water system but not in either municipal water or water coming from the home’s cold water tap.
But still people worry.
‘‘Nobody’s washing their faces in the showers anymore. Nobody’s drinking the water,’’ Angela Miller of Violet said during a break Thursday outside the Chalmette hair salon where she works. ‘‘My neighbor has a pool that they have emptied. And they have no water in there now until this matter is cleared up.’’
That’s not necessary, specialists say. Stomach acids, boiling, and chlorine all will kill the amoeba.
Many people think water should test free of the amoeba before they use it, DHH said, but testing tap water for the amoeba is not as important as making sure that it holds enough chlorine to kill the creature.
Why would anyone want to drink that?
Last Friday — the latest available report — there was no detectable free chlorine in water mains and other testing stations along nearly two-thirds the length of the long, narrow parish.
To get the recommended level of one-half part chlorine per million at the system’s outer reaches, the parish has been putting about eight times that amount into the water at its treatment plant, said Jake Causey, chief engineer for the state Office of Public Health’s engineering services section.
I'll bet Louisiana water has a strong smell.
Investigators may never know just how Naegleria got into the pipes.
Another mystery.
It usually lives just above the bottom of fresh water, feeding on bacteria. It spreads farthest in warm water. Minnesota reported two infections in the past few years, but the vast majority have been in 15 Southern states, with more than half the total in Florida and Texas.
It might have entered and survived in the water system in many ways, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Causey said.
Related: New Trial Ordered For Katrina Killers
Somebody got all wet!
The parish had to repair more than 1,000 broken pipes after floodwaters receded, he said. ‘‘When it was brought back online, the water was chlorinated, flushed, and sampled. But water mains can build up biofilms over time, and can get microorganisms in there that stay behind the biofilm.’’
Meanwhile, the population fell from 67,000 before Katrina to 35,000 afterward and is now about 44,000, Causey said. With fewer people, water moved more slowly through the pipes. A couple of years ago, he said, the parish installed 50 automatic flushing stations to dump water out of the mains periodically, and keep it moving.
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Related: N.H. patients possibly exposed to fatal brain disease
It is difficult to find good water these days.
Also see: With new tools, Novartis targets brain disease
Another water source they are concerned about:
"Oil giants sued for La. land erosion" by Michael Kunzelman and Kevin McGill | Associated Press, July 25, 2013
NEW ORLEANS — The oil and gas industry has cost Louisiana hundreds of thousands of acres of coastal land that serve as a natural buffer against flooding from hurricanes, officials in charge of New Orleans-area flood protection say in a lawsuit seeking to hold dozens of companies responsible.
Corrosive saltwater from a network of oil and gas access and pipeline canals has killed vegetation and swept away mountains of soil, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East’s board of commissioners claims in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Orleans Parish Civil District Court. The wetlands are considered a crucial buffer against hurricanes because they can help keep storm surge floodwaters at bay.
‘‘What remains of these coastal lands is so seriously diseased that if nothing is done, it will slip into the Gulf of Mexico by the end of this century,’’ the lawsuit states.
The board says it will have to bear many of the costs for increased flood protection. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
‘‘Even the industry recognizes they are responsible for some of the land lost, and it’s not an insignificant amount,’’ said board vice president John Barry.
About 100 companies are named as defendants in the lawsuit, including Apache Corp., BP America Production Co., Chevron USA Inc., ConocoPhillips Co., Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Co., and The Pickens Co. Inc.
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What else does the Globe tell me about that lifeless lake called the Gulf of Mexico?
"BP ordered to pay settlement administrator $130M" by Michael Kunzelman | Associated Press, August 08, 2013
NEW ORLEANS — A federal magistrate on Wednesday ordered BP to pay more than $130 million in fees to the court-supervised administrator of its multibillion-dollar settlement with Gulf Coast businesses and residents after the company’s 2010 oil spill.
The ruling comes as BP tries to temporarily block claims payments while former FBI director Louis Freeh investigates allegations of misconduct by an attorney who worked on the settlement program. BP also has complained of broader problems in the program run by court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Freehing BP
He's a mini-Feinberg.
US Magistrate Sally Shushan ruled that BP is obligated to fund the settlement program’s third-quarter budget even though she concluded the company raised ‘‘legitimate concerns’’ about Juneau’s operations.
In a letter Monday, BP claims official Maria Travis claimed Juneau’s office has not provided adequate documentation for the money it requested. Travis also alleged the program has been plagued by poor productivity and excessive costs.
Shushan said while the dispute over claims documentation was regrettable, there was no way she could cut off funding for administration of the program on such short notice.
‘‘People are dependent. Jobs are dependent. We just can’t have that happen,’’ she said.
Shushan also ordered BP to pay for the first month of Juneau’s fourth-quarter expenses, giving the parties more time to resolve BP’s complaints about his budgeting process....
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And that really pissed off BP.
Also see: Official says no evidence of fraud found at BP Alabama center
That should Sushen them!
They found destruction of it at Halliburton, though.
"Hostage, captor killed in La. bank" by HOLBROOK MOHR | Associated Press, August 15, 2013
ST. JOSEPH, La. — A man who believed a device had been implanted in his head shot two hostages, killing one, at a rural Louisiana bank before State Police ended the hours-long standoff by shooting him dead.
He didn't know anyone at the Navy Yard, did he?
The standoff began around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when authorities said 20-year-old Fuaed Abdo Ahmed took two women and a man captive at a bank....
He was Muslim?
Several acquaintances said they saw no signs of trouble with Ahmed before the shooting. St. Joseph Mayor Edward Brown said he exchanged pleasantries with Ahmed about an hour before the standoff began. Brown described Ahmed as ‘‘just normal. That’s why it’s so bizarre to me.’’
His high school football coach and a teammate describe an amicable star running back with good grades.
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That's why we call it ma$$ media.
