Lillian Smart died on Saturday at a hospital in Ruston, just a day after celebrating her eighth birthday. An 8-year-old Louisiana girl has died after she contracted a rare and usually fatal brain infection caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri while swimming in a local lake, Guardian reported. She had been receiving treatment at the hospital since August 15.
Several local media outlets later identified the child as Lillian. Naegleria fowleri is a microscopic amoeba that lives in warm freshwater. It can cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, a rare infection in which contaminated water enters the body through the nose and the amoeba travels to the brain. The infection cannot occur from swallowing contaminated water and does not spread from person to person. The amoeba is also not found in saltwater or properly maintained, chlorinated swimming pools. The infection is extremely rare but has a very high fatality rate.
The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed on August 19 that a state resident had tested positive for Naegleria fowleri, with officials saying the infection was most likely linked to swimming in Lake Claiborne in Claiborne Parish, about 30 miles northwest of Ruston. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 97% of people who develop PAM die from the disease. The CDC has recorded only around 180 cases of Naegleria fowleri infection in the US since 1937. Louisiana has reported only a handful of cases in recent years, with state health department records showing three previous deaths linked to the amoeba since 2011, reported Fox News.
