An eight-year-old girl has died from an extremely rare “brain-eating amoeba” infection believed to have been contracted while swimming in a Louisiana lake.
Lillian Smart died over the weekend after battling an infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, a rare, single-celled amoeba found in warm freshwater that causes a deadly brain infection.
Likely source of infection
The girl, from Louisiana in the United States, likely contracted the amoeba while swimming in Lake Claiborne in north Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Health said.
In a Facebook post released yesterday, Lillian's parents said: "Last night Lillian ran from our arms to the arms of Jesus. The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from. 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?"
Rare and often fatal infection
The brain-eating amoeba thrives in freshwater bodies around the US and can shoot up the nose and cause an infection that is almost always fatal, the Associated Press reports. Fewer than 10 cases annually are identified in the US.
While the Louisiana Department of Health didn't identify Lillian, the authority said last week that it had its first confirmed Naegleria fowleri infection since 2013. The department said it does not comment on individual cases.
About the amoeba
The name of the brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri is primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Between 1937 and 2025, there have only been approximately 180 confirmed infections in the US, according to the Health Department, which added that the cases are "nearly always fatal". The infection cannot spread from person to person.
The amoeba is found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, canals and ponds in the US. Naegleria fowleri is not normally found in UK natural water bodies as the climate here is too cold for it to survive.
It becomes dangerous in water over 25C. Other recent cases in the US have been identified in Maryland, Indiana and Minnesota, scientists said.
"The amoeba is naturally occurring, and there is no routine environmental test for Naegleria fowleri in bodies of water," the Louisiana Department of Health stated. Last year, a 12-year-old boy in South Carolina also died from an infection caused by the amoeba.
