A 7-year-old California boy who became infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a lake has died, according to his family.
David Pruitt of Tehama County died from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis on Aug. 7, CBS13 in Sacramento reported, citing a statement from his aunt.
The boy had been on life support since being flown to UC Davis Medical Center on July 30, the station reported.
The infection caused severe swelling in the boy’s brain, and doctors were ultimately unable to save him.
The amoeba is a parasite known as Naegleria fowleri, which enters the body through the nose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Symptoms include a fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting, and then intensify into a stiff neck, seizures or hallucinations, the CDC website says.
While infection typically occurs in lakes and rivers, swimming pools can also harbor the amoeba if the water has not been properly cleaned and treated.
“Once the ameba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes PAM, which is usually fatal,” the CDC said on its website.
Infections are extremely rare, although several cases across the country have been reported in recent years.
Last year, officials in Lake Jackson, Texas, issued a “do not use water advisory” in several cities after traces of the amoeba were found in the public water supply.
A North Carolina man died in July 2019 after contracting the amoeba at a water park, and a 10-year-old Texas girl died the same year after swimming in a river near Fort Worth, Texas, on Labor Day weekend.
From 1962 to 2018, 145 people contracted Naegleria fowleri infections in the United States, according to the CDC. Only four of them survived.
From 2009 to 2018, there were 34 infections reported in the U.S., according to previous reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In California, only 10 other cases have been reported since 1971, CBS13 reported, citing a news release from the Tehama County Health Services Agency.
A person “cannot get infected from swallowing water contaminated with Naegleria,” the CDC states on its website.
