A 10-year-old girl is battling with a life-threatening disease caused by a brain-eating amoeba that has a 97 percent fatality rate after swimming in Brazos River and Lake Whitney in Bosque County near Waco, US. But on Monday, September 16 ina statement her parents confirmed that after suffering for over a week, she has died in a hospital.
The girl, who complained of a headache followed by a fever, came in contact with Naegleria fowleri or a "brain-eating amoeba" while swimming during the Labor Day weekend, CNN reported.
According to a Facebook page, which was created to support the girl, her family first thought it was a viral infection, but the girl's troubled sleep and nightmares made them suspicious.
"She was incoherent, unresponsive and was quickly swept up and taken to the ER," the Facebook page mentioned.
She is now taking treatment at Cook Childrens Medical Center Pediatric ICU, where doctors have put her on cooling pads trying to lower the brain swelling.
Quick facts on Brain-Eating Amoebas
Amoebas are single-celled organisms and the brain-eating amoeba is a species discovered in 1965. The organism, commonly found in warm freshwaters like lakes and rivers, enters the body through the nose, travels to the brain and destroys brain tissue. The disease progresses rapidly and usually causes brain swelling and death within 1-18 days, a median five days, of contraction.
