Louisiana Child Dies After Contracting Brain-Eating Amoeba at Lake

An 8-year-old Louisiana resident died Saturday at a Ruston hospital after contracting Naegleria fowleri, a microscopic amoeba that causes a severe and frequently fatal brain infection. The girl, identified by family members as Lillian Smart, passed away just one day after her eighth birthday. Her family released a statement Sunday saying the damage to her brain was irreversible and expressing their grief over losing their daughter.

Louisiana Department of Health officials announced Wednesday that a state resident had been hospitalized with a Naegleria fowleri infection, likely acquired while swimming in Lake Claiborne. Though the department did not initially name the patient publicly, the family confirmed on social media that Lillian had been admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit and identified the amoeba as responsible for her condition.

This marks the fourth confirmed Naegleria fowleri death in Louisiana since 2011. A 20-year-old man in St. Bernard Parish and a 51-year-old woman in DeSoto Parish both died in 2011 after using contaminated tap water for nasal rinsing. In 2013, a 4-year-old boy in St. Bernard Parish contracted the infection while playing on a slip-and-slide; CDC testing later confirmed the amoeba’s presence in the local water system.

Naegleria fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, which develops when contaminated water enters the nasal passages and the organism travels to the brain. The infection cannot be acquired through swallowing contaminated water and does not occur in saltwater or properly chlorinated pools. Initial symptoms include headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, progressing to stiff neck, seizures and coma within approximately five days, with death typically occurring within one to two weeks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 97 percent of PAM patients die from the infection. The CDC documented two PAM cases nationally last year, with nearly 91 percent of the 173 infections recorded over the past 90 years occurring in July and August.