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Eight-year-old dies after contracting rare brain-eating amoeba in Louisiana
The Guardian • • general
Key Points:
- An eight-year-old girl from Ruston, Louisiana, Lillian Smart, died after contracting the rare and typically fatal brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri following a swim in Lake Claiborne.
- The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed the infection on August 19, with exposure likely occurring in Lake Claiborne; Lillian had been hospitalized since August 15.
- Naegleria fowleri infections are extremely rare and almost always fatal, with only a few cases reported in Louisiana since 2011 and about 180 cases in the US since 1937.
- The amoeba thrives in warm freshwater and is increasingly appearing in new regions due to climate change, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis when contaminated water enters the nose.
- The infection is not spread through swallowing water or person-to-person contact, and it is not found in properly maintained and chlorinated swimming pools.
