8-year-old dies from rare brain-eating amoeba likely contracted while swimming in Louisiana lake

An eight-year-old has died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba believed to have been encountered while swimming in a lake near her home, her family and health officials said.

Lillian Smart's heartbroken parents say they don't know what to do next.

‘​The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from,’ Lilian Smart’s family wrote on Facebook

8-year-old dies from rare brain-eating amoeba likely contracted while swimming in Louisiana lake  CNN

Doctors did all they could to stop the horror brain-eating amoeba from claiming little Lillian's life, but the infection became too great for her to overcome

Doctors did all they could to stop the horror brain-eating amoeba from claiming little Lillian's life, but the infection became too great for her to overcome

Lillian Smart, who health officials believe contracted a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a northern Louisiana lake, died Saturday from an infection linked to the pathogen.

Lillian Smart's family says the 8-year-old's brain injuries were too severe to survive after contracting Naegleria fowleri while swimming in a lake.

Lillian Smart of Ruston infected with fatal Naegleria fowleri, likely after swimming in Lake Claiborne, health officials say An eight-year-old Louisiana girl has died after contracting a rare, typically fatal brain-eating amoeba after a swim in Lake Claiborne. Lillian Smart, of Ruston, died on Saturday, one day after c