An 8-year-old Louisiana girl, Lillian Smart, died Saturday after health officials believe she contracted a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a northern Louisiana lake. The infection linked to the pathogen, Naegleria fowleri, proved too severe for her body to overcome, her family stated.
Lillian died one day after celebrating her eighth birthday. "The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from," the Smart family said in a statement posted Sunday. "Everyone did everything they could to keep her here. We are heartbroken and honestly do not know what to do next. How do we put one foot in front of the other without our girl?"
The Louisiana Department of Health announced Wednesday that a state resident had been hospitalized with an infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, a microscopic amoeba that can cause a rare and often fatal brain infection. While state health officials did not publicly identify Lillian, her family confirmed on social media that she was admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit and that Naegleria fowleri was the cause of her illness.
According to the health department, the infection was most likely acquired while the patient was swimming in Lake Claiborne shortly before falling ill. A representative for the Louisiana Department of Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Naegleria fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), an extremely rare brain infection that occurs when contaminated water enters the nose and the amoeba travels to the brain. Infection cannot occur from swallowing contaminated water. The amoeba is not found in saltwater or properly chlorinated swimming pools.
Symptoms typically begin with headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting, progressing to a stiff neck, seizures, and coma. Symptoms usually appear about five days after infection, and the disease can be fatal within one to two weeks. Approximately 97% of people who develop PAM die from the infection, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Louisiana has recorded three previous deaths associated with Naegleria fowleri since 2011. In 2011, a 20-year-old man died in St. Bernard Parish after using tap water to rinse his sinuses, and a 51-year-old woman in DeSoto Parish died from using tap water for a similar purpose. In 2013, a 4-year-old boy contracted the amoeba while playing on a slip-and-slide at a home in St. Bernard Parish. CDC testing later detected Naegleria fowleri in that parish's water system.
The CDC reported two PAM cases nationwide last year. Of the 173 infections documented over the past roughly 90 years, nearly 91% occurred in July and August.