CDC has identified about 180 US Naegleria fowleri cases since 1937

Smart’s death was announced Saturday on the public Facebook page “Love for Lillian Smart,” where her family wrote that the damage to her brain from the infection had been too severe for her body to recover from.

“Last night Lillian ran from our arms to the arms of Jesus,” the family said in the post. “The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from. Everyone did everything they could to keep her here. 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?”

The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed on 19 August that a state resident had been infected with Naegleria fowleri and said the exposure most likely occurred while swimming in Lake Claiborne in Claiborne Parish. Family friends subsequently identified Smart as the infected resident, according to local media reports, including KNOE.

Smart had been hospitalized since 15 August, KNOE reported. As her family faced the crisis, more than two dozen businesses in Ruston showed support by donating a portion of sales to the Smart family, according to the Facebook page.

Naegleria fowleri infections are extremely rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified about 180 cases in the United States since 1937, and only a handful have been recorded in Louisiana since 2011. The amoeba flourishes in warm freshwater — including lakes, rivers and ponds — and is most commonly encountered in southern states during summer. It is not found in salt water or in properly maintained, chlorinated swimming pools.

Infection can develop when contaminated water enters the nose and the organism travels to the brain, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis. The infection does not spread from person to person, and people cannot become infected by swallowing water containing Naegleria fowleri, according to public-health guidance.

Experts say the climate crisis is causing the amoeba to appear in parts of the United States where it has been historically uncommon, including northern and western states. The most recent comparable case before Smart’s occurred in 2023, when an Arkansas child died after contracting Naegleria fowleri from a country club splash pad in Little Rock.