A North Carolina boy has died after contracting a brain-eating amoeba that thrives in warm freshwater, with his death coming just days after an 8-year-old girl in Louisiana died from a similar infection.
The teenager, whose name and exact location were not released to protect the family’s privacy, died Monday after falling critically ill in recent days, North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to JS.
“NCDHHS is coordinating closely with our federal partners at the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] as well as our local health departments to investigate all possible sources of this Naegleria fowleri case,” an official said in an email.
A GoFundMe page purportedly established by the child’s mother states that he received treatment at a hospital in Chapel Hill after what started as severe headaches.
Though details about the case weren’t released, the amoeba that causes the illness, Naegleria fowleri, is commonly found in warm freshwater and capable of human infection if it reaches the brain, specifically by entering one’s nose — like by jumping into a lake or river. You can’t contract it by swallowing water.
It’s called “brain-eating” because it causes brain swelling and destroys brain tissue.
The infection is extremely rare, infecting fewer than 10 people annually in the U.S., though it is almost always fatal. Between 1962 and 2024, there were 167 reported cases in the U.S., and of those, only four people survived, according to the CDC.
“While these infections are very rare, this is an important reminder that this amoeba is present in our state and across the U.S. There are steps people can take to reduce their risk of infection while swimming during the warmer months,” North Carolina state epidemiologist Zack Moore said in a release last week.
These steps include preventing water from going up one’s nose by holding it shut when entering warm freshwater or avoiding jumping into water and submerging one’s head. Distilled or boiled tap water should also only be used when rinsing sinuses or cleaning nasal passages, as the amoeba has been found in tap or faucet water. A woman in Texas died last year after using tap water to rinse her sinuses.
The amoeba is also best known to grow in water that reaches a temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in most cases in the U.S. occurring in the South in July and August.
The boy’s death comes roughly a week after the family of 8-year-old Lillian Smart confirmed her death Aug. 22 from the same infection. The child is suspected of contracting the amoeba while swimming in Lake Claiborne in north Louisiana, the state’s health department had said.