CDC confirms Nebraska child died from 'brain-eating amoeba'

close

Video

Brain-eating amoeba found in Texas city water supply

Texas city declares disaster for water contamination.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a brain-eating amoeba killed a Nebraska child who went swimming in the Elkhorn River.

The CDC confirmed on Friday that a child was infected by the incredibly rare amoeba that kills 97% of its victims.

Officials did not release the name of the victim.

The death is the first recorded instance of a brain-eating amoeba killing someone in Nebraska.

NEBRASKA CHILD DEAD FROM SUSPECTED BRAIN-EATING AMOEBA

Naegleria fowleri (commonly referred to as the "brain-eating amoeba" or "brain-eating ameba"), is a free-living microscopic ameba*, (single-celled living organism). It can cause a rare** and devastating infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))

"Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba that is commonly found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, canals, and ponds throughout the United States," the department said in a news release. "It can cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a brain infection that may result when water containing the amoeba rushes up the nose and reaches the brain. The infection is extremely rare, but nearly always fatal."

Nebraska’s state epidemiologist said on Wednesday cases of brain-eating amoebas have historically been confined to southern states but are beginning to appear in northerns ones as well.

The amoeba is most commonly found in rivers, lakes and ponds.  (Jim Lane/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Jim Lane/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Brain-eating amoeba are rare in the U.S., according to the CDC. In the last 10 years, the CDC has recorded 31 infections. Though rare, the chances of survival after coming into contact with a brain-eating amoeba are slim. The fatality rate is 97 percent, according to the CDC, and just four of the 154 people known infections between 1962 and 2021 have survived.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Friday’s confirmed death is the second instance of a brain-eating amoeba killing someone in the Midwest this year. A Missouri resident was infected and died after swimming in the Lake of Three Fires in Iowa.