VALLEY MILLS, Texas — After a 10-year-old girl died of brain-eating amoeba many asked what it is and how you get it. 6 News set out to answer some of your frequently asked questions.
Lily Mae Avant had been swimming Labor Day weekend in the Brazos River near her Valley Mills home and days later she felt sick, her family said.
Doctors initially thought the Valley Mills Independent School District student had a virus that was going around her school. By Tuesday, Sept. 8, she was flown to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth where they found she had contracted a brain-eating amoeba.
Avant's family announced Monday she died.
What is brain-eating Amoeba?
According to WebMD, the bug was discovered in 1965 in Australia. There are several species of Naegleria, but only the fowleri species causes human disease, the WebMD website says. In the right conditions, the amoebas turn into trophozoites -- the kind of amoeba that feeds.
Where are brain-eating amoebas found?
Brain-eating amoebas need a hot, wet environment to survive. It can survive in water as hot as 113 degrees, WebMD says.
They can be found in the following area:
- Warm lakes, ponds, and rock pits
- Mud puddles
- Warm, slow-flowing rivers, especially those with low water levels
- Untreated swimming pools and spas
- Untreated well water or untreated municipal water
- Hot springs and other geothermal water sources
- Thermally polluted water, such as runoff from power plants
- Aquariums
- Soil, including indoor dust
The parasite cannot live in saltwater or survive in properly treated pools. More than half of all infections have been in Florida and Texas, the site says.
How do you get the infection?
Brain-eating amoeba usually infects people through the nose, then travels to the brain, where it destroys the tissue, according to the CDC.
You cannot be infected by drinking water. It is not contagious.
Is there a cure?
There are several treatments for brain-eating amoeba, but it is unclear if the treatments are effective since almost all infected people have died.
The fatality rate for the amoeba is more than 97 percent, according to the CDC. Only four out of 143 known infected individuals in the United States from 1962 to 2017 survived, the CDC said.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of Naegleria fowleri include a headache, fever, nausea or vomiting and usually start one to nine days after the initial infection. Later symptoms can include stiff neck, confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations.
Once symptoms begin, the disease progresses rapidly and typically causes death in five days.
Valley Mills ISD released a statement following Avant’s death:
“Valley Mills Independent School District is deeply saddened by the loss of Lily Avant. Lily was an absolute blessing to our elementary school. She was an outstanding student, but more importantly, Lily was an incredible person and friend to all. She was loving, kind, respectful, and had a beautiful heart. This campus and community are beyond blessed for the time we shared with our Lily. Now through Lily’s strength and resiliency, the world has had an opportunity to see how beautiful and special she was. She has and will continue to touch lives around the nation. We continue to think about and pray for Lily’s family who has shown great faith and strength throughout this time. The family’s courage, strength, and unwavering faith is a true inspiration to not only our community but to all who have been following Lily’s story.
“We are doing everything we can to provide comfort and assistance to the family, and to our students and staff, in this time of grief. Valley Mills ISD is a close-knit group, so this loss will impact many. We will have grief counselors available on campus for the remainder of the week for students and staff. We will share additional ways to support the family and service details as they become available.
“We are, and we will always be Lily Strong.”
The district is selling T-shirts to help the family.
Accounts at Frist National Bank Whitney, First National Bank in Bosque County and a Venmo have also been set up for the family. To donate on Venmo search @lilylacijohn.
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