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An 8-year-old Louisiana girl recently died from a brain-eating amoeba after swimming. Now, families are left wondering whether this could happen to their loved ones.Lillian Smart of Ruston died Aug. 22, her family said in a public Facebook post on the "Love for Lillian" page, writing that the "injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from."The Louisiana Department of Health reported Aug. 19 that it had confirmed a case of Naegleria fowleri, often referred to as a brain-eating amoeba, which she probably contracted while she was swimming in Lake Claiborne. The infection is almost always fatal.Here's what to know about the amoeba and how to protect yourself.Where is Naegleria fowleri found?Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, canals and ponds throughout the United States. It is not found in saltwater or in properly maintained and chlorinated pools.The amoeba is often referred to as brain-eating because it can cause a deadly infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, which destroys brain tissue.How do you contract a brain-eating amoeba?Someone can develop primary amebic meningoencephalitis when water containing the amoeba rushes up the nose and reaches the brain. Naegleria fowleri can't infect people if swallowed and isn't spread from person to person. "Naegleria fowleri is a harmless pond dweller – unless it ends up in the nose of a human swimmer," according to a research article published in Science. "Once inside, the amoeba can crawl along nerve fibers in the nasal cavity and through little openings in the skull until it reaches the brain."It has been unclear why these otherwise harmless organisms, which normally feed on bacteria, exhibit this behavior − but it may have something to do with them loving to crawl into narrow spaces in an effort to find food."It’s really just an unfortunate circumstance when the amoebae get into your upper sinuses," Katrina Velle, a cell biologist at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, told Science. "They’re just doing what they’ve evolved to do − looking for nooks and crannies where their bacteria should be."How common is the infection?The brain-eating amoeba usually kills fewer than 10 Americans each year. Only four survivors have been identified out of 167 cases that have been recorded in the United States from 1962 to 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In July 2025, a boy died from the brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a lake in South Carolina.How can you protect yourself from brain-eating amoebas?Though it may not be possible to totally avoid water activities during the summer, there are some ways to reduce your risk of contracting the deadly infection:Wear a nose clip or hold your nose before diving or jumping into freshwater.Avoid digging in shallow water, because that's where the amoeba is more likely to live.Always keep your head above water in hot springs.Contributing: Janet Loehrke, Christopher Cann and George Petras, USA TODAY; Greg Hilburn, Julie Garisto, T. Sudore and C.A. Bridge, USA TODAY Network
