8-year-old Louisiana girl dies from a rare brain-eating amoeba found in
warm freshwater
[August 25, 2026]
By JACK BROOK
An 8-year-old girl in Louisiana has died after being infected by an
extremely rare brain-eating amoeba that is found in warm freshwater, her
family says.
Lillian Smart died over the weekend after being diagnosed with an
infection from Naegleria fowleri, according to a spokesperson for her
family. Health authorities describe it as a “brain-eating amoeba" that
thrives in freshwater bodies around the U.S. and can shoot up the nose
and cause an infection that almost always proves fatal. On average there
are fewer than 10 cases annually in the U.S.
“Last night Lillian ran from our arms to the arms of Jesus,” her
parents, Daniel and Rebecca Smart, wrote Sunday in a public post on
Facebook. “The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body
to recover from. Everyone did everything they could to keep her here.”
The Louisiana Department of Health said last week that the state had
experienced its first confirmed Naegleria fowleri infection since 2013.
The department, which did not identify Smart, does not comment on
individual cases or specific patients, according to spokesperson Stacey
Grow.
“Heartbroken over the news of Lillian’s passing,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff
Landry wrote on X.
The infection was likely contracted while swimming in Lake Claiborne in
north Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Health said.
The amoeba can lead to a fatal infection known as primary amoebic
meningoencephalitis when water carrying the amoeba travels up the nose
and into the brain. Between 1937 and 2025, there have only been
approximately 180 confirmed infections in the U.S., according to the
Health Department, which added that the cases are “nearly always fatal.”
The infection cannot spread from person to person.
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This undated photo shows Lillian Smart. (Love for Lillian Facebook
via AP)
 Naegleria fowleri is found in warm
freshwater lakes, rivers, canals and ponds throughout the U.S. The
amoeba becomes dangerous in water that stays over 77 degrees
Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius) and for years has been seen almost
exclusively in the summer in the southern part of the country. A few
recent cases have appeared in Maryland, Indiana and Minnesota,
scientists said.
“The amoeba is naturally occurring, and there is no routine
environmental test for Naegleria fowleri in bodies of water,” the
Louisiana Department of Health stated.
Last year, a 12-year-old boy in South Carolina also died from an
infection caused by the amoeba.
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