An 8-year-old has died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba believed to have been encountered while swimming in a lake near her home, her family and health officials said.
Lillian Smart, who lived in Ruston in northern Louisiana, died in the hospital over the weekend, shortly after turning 8, according to her parents.
“Last night Lillian ran from our arms to the arms of Jesus,” her family said in a post on Facebook Sunday morning. “The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from,” the post read.
The family earlier wrote Lillian had experienced significant brain swelling “as a result of the parasite.”
The Louisiana Department of Health announced last week a resident had likely contracted the organism, known as Naegleria fowleri, while swimming in Lake Claiborne which is about 30 miles northwest of Ruston.
