Eight-Year-Old Louisiana Girl Dies After Contracting Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba Following Lake Swim
核心洞察
Lillian Smart, an 8-year-old girl from Ruston, Louisiana, died on Saturday after contracting Naegleria fowleri (搜索), a rare brain-eating amoeba, following a swim in Lake Claiborne.
The Louisiana Department of Health (搜索) confirmed the infection on 19 August and indicated exposure most likely occurred while swimming in Lake Claiborne in Claiborne Parish.
Naegleria fowleri (搜索) causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (搜索) (PAM), an almost always fatal brain infection, with roughly 97% of cases resulting in death, according to the CDC.
Lillian Smart, an 8-year-old girl from Ruston, Louisiana, died on Saturday at a Ruston hospital from an infection linked to Naegleria fowleri (搜索), a microscopic brain-eating amoeba that health officials believe she contracted while swimming in Lake Claiborne. 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 morning on Facebook. "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 (搜索) announced on 19 August that a state resident had been hospitalized after becoming infected with Naegleria fowleri (搜索), and said the exposure most likely occurred while the person was swimming in Lake Claiborne in Claiborne Parish. State health officials did not publicly identify Lillian as the patient referenced in the announcement; her family, however, said on social media that she had been admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit at a Ruston hospital and identified Naegleria fowleri as the cause of her illness. Lillian had been hospitalized since 15 August, according to KNOE.
A Rare and Often Fatal Infection
Naegleria fowleri (搜索) causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (搜索), or PAM, an extremely rare brain infection that can develop when contaminated water enters the nose and the amoeba travels to the brain. People cannot become infected by swallowing contaminated water, and the infection does not spread from one person to another. The amoeba is not found in saltwater or properly chlorinated swimming pools.
Symptoms typically begin with headache, fever, nausea and vomiting before progressing to a stiff neck, seizures and coma. Symptoms generally appear about five days after infection, and the disease can lead to death within about one to two weeks.
About 97% of people who develop PAM die from the infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (搜索) (CDC). The CDC reported two PAM cases nationwide last year. Of the 173 infections documented over roughly the past 90 years, nearly 91% occurred in July and August. The Guardian reported that only about 180 cases have been identified in the United States since 1937, according to the CDC.
Prior Cases in Louisiana and Beyond
Louisiana Department of Health (搜索) records identify three previous deaths associated with Naegleria fowleri (搜索) in the state since 2011. Two occurred in 2011: a 20-year-old man in St. Bernard Parish died after using tap water to rinse his sinuses, while a 51-year-old woman in DeSoto Parish died after using tap water for a similar purpose. In 2013, a 4-year-old boy contracted the amoeba while visiting a home in St. Bernard Parish, where he had played on a slip-and-slide; state officials later reported that CDC testing detected Naegleria fowleri in the parish water system.
In 2023, an Arkansas child died after contracting Naegleria fowleri (搜索) from a country club splash pad in the state capital of Little Rock.
Environmental Context
The amoeba flourishes in warm water and is most commonly found in southern states during the summer. Naegleria fowleri (搜索) can be found in warm freshwater across the country, including lakes, rivers and ponds. Experts cited by The Guardian note that the climate crisis is causing the amoeba to appear in parts of the U.S. where it is not typical, such as the north and west.
As Lillian's family faced the crisis, more than two dozen businesses in Ruston showed support and donated a portion of sales to the Smart family, according to the "Love for Lillian" Facebook page.