A 10-year-old Texas girl is now fighting for her life after she contracted brain eating amoeba when she went swimming in a river.
Contracted Brain-Eating Amoeba While Swimming In The River
Lily Mae Avant reportedly went swimming over Labor Day weekend in the Brazos River, where doctors think she likely contracted the infection.
Days after the swim, the Valley Mills Elementary School student had fever and headache. She also appeared to have the symptoms of a common virus, but her condition worsened.
She had to be brought to the local hospital and eventually flown to the Cook Children's Health Care System in Fort Worth, where she was diagnosed of Naegleria fowleri amoeba infection.
Naegleria Fowleri Amoeba
The amoeba is found naturally in freshwater such as rivers and lakes. While it is not life-threatening when swallowed, the amoeba can be fatal when it enters the body through the nose.
Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it can cause a devastating and often fatal infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that infection usually happens when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places.
Treatment
Lily was given an amoeba-fighting pill called Miltefosine. The drug increases patients' chances of surviving if it is administered quickly.
The fatality of the infection is more than 97 percent, but two people with Naegleria infection survived after being treated with miltefosine along with other drugs.
"An investigational breast cancer and anti-leishmania drug, Miltefosin, has shown some promise in combination with some of these other drugs. Miltefosine has shown ameba-killing activity against free-living amebae, including Naegleria fowleri, in the laboratory," CDC said.
Lily's family and friends are now praying that she will get well soon.
"We have high hopes. She is a fighter and she's always been a fighter," her aunt, Crystal Warren, said.
