Boy died of brain-eating parasite after playing with hose

A devastated mum has urged parents to be alert to the waterborne infection that killed her son.

Jodi Keough's son Cash  died after he contracted a parasitic amoeba after spraying warm hose water up his nose.

The parasite, called Naegleria fowleri, is a waterborne infection which took hold in Cash's brain after the water went up his nose.

His mum said he went downhill rapidly: 'One day my cheeky monkey was laughing and pulling his big sisters' hair. The next he was vomiting and having seizures. Four days later his life was stripped away from him.'

Health authorities visited the family property in rural North Queensland and found the water supply was riddled with parasites. But many rural communities suffered similar said Jodi. 

'I do feel like it's up to me to prevent our nightmare becoming someone else's reality,' she said.

Jodie and her husband Laine have two other children, Kodi and Bobbi.