Texas Child Dies from Brain-Eating Amoeba After Playing at a Splash Pad

Getty A splash pad

A Texas boy has died from a brain-eating amoeba that he likely contracted after playing at a splash pad at an Arlington park.

The city learned that the boy was hospitalized with the rare parasite on Sept. 5, officials said in a statement, and he died at a hospital six days later. They have not released his name or additional details to protect his identity.

County health officials tested the water at two locations after learning that the boy was sick — his family's home and the splash pad at Don Misenhimer Park. They determined that N. fowleri ameba, the formal name for brain-eating amoeba, was present in the water at the splash pad and was the likely cause of his exposure.

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Arlington closed the Don Misenhimer splash pad after learning of the boy's illness and have since shut down all city splash pads through the end of the year "out of an abundance of caution."

The city admitted that they had not been properly maintaining the splash pads, and that the parks and recreation department staff did not always record or conduct the required daily water quality testing. The logs "did not always show how much disinfectant chemical was manually added to the splash pad's water system," the city said, and often lacked confirmation that they were correctly chlorinated.

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The day after the child had visited the splash pad, the log "shows that the chlorination level had fallen below the minimum requirement and that additional chlorine was added to the water system."

"To know that there is a role that the city may have played in that is highly disturbing," Lemuel Randolph, deputy city manager for the city of Arlington, said, according to Fox 4.

City officials also said that the Centers for Disease Control have tested the public water system and ensured that it is safe.

Arlington Mayor Jim Ross has spoken with the family and apologized, Fox 4 said.

"This is bad. Nothing is worse than the loss of a child," Ross said. "But I was raised to own it."