Louisiana girl, 8, dies from suspected Naegleria fowleri infection after Lake Claiborne swim

Lillian Smart, 8, died Saturday at a Ruston, Louisiana hospital from an infection her family linked to Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba. The Louisiana Department of Health announced Wednesday that a state resident had been hospitalized after what officials believe was an exposure at Lake Claiborne shortly before the patient became ill. The department has not publicly named Lillian as that patient.

She died one day after her eighth birthday. In a Facebook statement posted Sunday, her family described the brain damage as too severe for her body to recover from. "Everyone did everything they could to keep her here," the family wrote. "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?" She had been in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Ruston hospital before her death.

How Naegleria fowleri kills

Naegleria fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM. The amoeba enters through the nose and travels to the brain. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the fatality rate at about 97%. Of 173 infections documented over roughly the past 90 years, nearly 91% occurred in July and August. The CDC reported two PAM cases nationwide last year.

Symptoms typically appear around five days after exposure: headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting, escalating to a stiff neck, seizures, and coma. Death can follow within one to two weeks. Swallowing contaminated water does not transmit the infection, and the amoeba is not present in saltwater or properly chlorinated pools.

Louisiana's prior cases and what to watch

State health records show three prior Naegleria fowleri deaths in Louisiana since 2011. A 20-year-old man in St. Bernard Parish and a 51-year-old woman in DeSoto Parish both died in 2011 after using tap water to rinse their sinuses. In 2013, a 4-year-old boy in St. Bernard Parish contracted the amoeba while playing on a slip-and-slide; CDC testing later detected the pathogen in the parish water system.

The Louisiana Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment. What to watch is whether the department publicly confirms Lillian's identity and releases water-testing results for Lake Claiborne.