Louisiana 8-year-old dies after rare amoeba infection linked to lake swim

RUSTON, La. - An 8-year-old Louisiana girl died Saturday after her family said she contracted Naegleria fowleri, the rare amoeba that can cause a usually fatal brain infection, Fox News reported.

Lillian Smart died at a Ruston hospital one day after her eighth birthday. In a Facebook statement, her family said brain injuries were too severe for her body to recover and that everyone had done everything possible to keep her alive.

The Louisiana Department of Health announced Wednesday that a state resident had been hospitalized with Naegleria fowleri. Officials said the infection was most likely acquired while swimming in Lake Claiborne in northern Louisiana shortly before the illness began. The department did not publicly name Lillian in that bulletin. Her family identified the amoeba as the cause of her intensive-care illness.

Naegleria fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM. The microscopic organism can travel from contaminated warm freshwater up the nose to the brain. People do not get infected by swallowing the water. It is not found in saltwater or in properly chlorinated pools.

Symptoms often start with headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting, then can move to a stiff neck, seizures, and coma. They typically appear about five days after infection. Death can follow within one to two weeks. The CDC says about 97 percent of people who develop PAM die. Of 173 U.S. infections logged over about 90 years, nearly 91 percent occurred in July and August. The CDC reported two PAM cases nationwide last year.

Louisiana records list three earlier Naegleria-related deaths in the state since 2011, including cases tied to tap-water sinus rinses and a slip-and-slide. Health officials urge swimmers to keep heads above warm lake water when possible, avoid digging in shallow sediment, and never use untreated tap water in neti pots.