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8-year-old Louisiana girl dies from brain-eating freshwater amoeba
AP News • • health
Key Points:
- An 8-year-old girl, Lillian Smart, from Louisiana died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria fowleri, which is found in warm freshwater and almost always fatal.
- The infection likely occurred while swimming in Lake Claiborne, marking Louisiana's first confirmed case since 2013, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
- Naegleria fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a fatal brain infection that results when contaminated water enters the nose, but it cannot spread from person to person.
- The amoeba thrives in warm freshwater above 77°F and is mostly found in southern U.S. states during summer, though recent cases have appeared in northern states like Maryland, Indiana, and Minnesota.
- There is no routine environmental testing for Naegleria fowleri in water bodies, and infections remain extremely rare, with fewer than 10 cases annually in the U.S. on average.
