Louisiana officials confirmed that 8-year-old Lillian Smart died after likely contracting the infection while swimming in Lake Claiborne in Claiborne Parish. The state's health department also reported a separate confirmed case in a Louisiana resident who is believed to have been exposed at the same lake, prompting a health alert sent to providers statewide earlier this month advising them on symptoms and reporting requirements.
Days later, North Carolina's health department said a teenager from the central part of the state was receiving medical care after becoming infected, though officials withheld further identifying details out of respect for the family's privacy. The source of that infection remains under investigation.
Naegleria fowleri lives naturally in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, ponds and hot springs, and in rare cases in soil and poorly maintained pools. It cannot infect someone if swallowed and does not spread between people; infections occur only when contaminated water is forced up the nose, most often during swimming or diving, allowing the amoeba to travel to the brain and destroy tissue there.
“Our hearts go out to this teen's family, friends and loved ones”
— Dr. Zack Moore, North Carolina State Epidemiologist
Rare but Almost Always Fatal
The resulting brain infection, known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis, typically begins with a severe headache, fever, nausea and vomiting before progressing rapidly to a stiff neck, seizures and coma. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says fewer than 10 people a year in the United States are diagnosed with the condition, but survival is exceedingly rare once symptoms appear, with most patients dying within one to eighteen days of onset.
Health officials in both states stressed that the underlying risk to the public remains low and that a single infection does not raise the odds of another occurring in the same body of water. Even so, the amoeba tends to be most active when water temperatures climb above roughly 77 degrees Fahrenheit, growing best in water as warm as 115 degrees, a threshold much of the South regularly exceeds during late summer heat waves.
Simple Precautions
Officials are recommending swimmers limit how much water goes up their nose while in warm lakes, rivers or ponds, avoid stirring up sediment in shallow, warm water, and use particular caution during extended heat waves when water temperatures rise well above normal. Properly chlorinated pools are not considered a meaningful source of risk, and the amoeba is not found in salt water.
Public health departments in both states say they issued alerts to medical providers so that early symptoms are recognized quickly, given how fast the infection can progress once it takes hold, and are encouraging anyone who develops sudden severe headache and fever after swimming in warm freshwater to seek medical attention right away and mention their recent water exposure.
Next checkpoint
What to watch
Final state investigation findings, environmental sampling and any location-specific advisories from public-health authorities.
Evidence
Sources and editorial notes
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