A 10-year-old girl has died, her family said in a statement last Monday, Sept. 16, after she contracted a rare brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a river in Texas, United States.
Lily Mae Avant swam in a river and lake over the Labor Day holiday weekend earlier this month, then suffered a headache and a fever the following weekend.
Lily Mae Avant. Image: Facebook/Wendy Scott
Her health quickly deteriorated, and she was taken to a local hospital, then transferred to Cook Children鈥檚 Hospital in Fort Worth City, Texas.
Her fight for life attracted support from across the U.S. and around the world.
The family said in a on Facebook that Lily Mae is now 鈥渋n the arms of Jesus.鈥�
鈥淲ords can not begin to express how overwhelming this past week has been for our family,鈥� they said. 鈥淲e have been flooded by your love and support and feel incredibly humbled by how many lives have been impacted by our sweet and sassy Lily Mae.鈥�
The Texas Department of State Health Services told American media that she had primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection caused by the so-called brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri.
The first symptoms of the infection typically appear about a week after the amoeba enters the nose.
鈥淭he amoeba is present in freshwater across Texas and elsewhere in the U.S., and there鈥檚 no particular body of water that would present a greater risk,鈥� agency spokesman Chris Van Deusen told CBS-affiliate KWTX. 鈥淐ases are extremely rare despite the millions of people who swim in lakes and rivers every year.鈥澛�RGA/JB
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