Eleven-Year-Old Girl Dies After Contracting Brain-Eating Amoeba

An 11-year-old girl from Charleston, South Carolina was hospitalized after contracting a deadly brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a lake. The girl, Hannah Collins, died at 10:20PM on Friday, days after being exposed to the Naegleria fowleri, a one-celled organism that causes amebic meningoencephalitis at the Edisto River on July 24.

According to CBS News, the organism is usually found present in warm, fresh water sources, and can be fatal is forced up the nose. The girl's father, Jeff Collins, was grieving the loss of his daughter from the Beaufort County Jail, where he was picked up for an unpaid traffic violation just before his daughter got sick. He did, however, thank the Colleton County Sherriff for taking him to see his daughter at the Medical University of South Carolina one last time before she died.

Hannah, who was already gravely ill, died the following evening. A statement from the girl's family read, "Hannah loved life, her family and friends and, although this is not the outcome we wished for, our sweet girl has joined the angels..."

The New York Daily News noted that Hannah's case is one of less than 40 reported nationwide over the past decade. This is because despite its presence in the water, the deadly amoeba require very specific circumstances to infect a person. The Department of Health and Environmental Control said that first, you must be swimming or participating in activities in water in which the ameba is present. Second, the ameba-containing water must reach your nasal cavity with enough force that the ameba can make its way to the brain."

Unfortunately, however, in 95 percent of the cases, the infection, once there, is fatal, and there is no cure for it in the provinces. Hannah's family set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for their daughter's funeral, which was set to be on the St. Peter's Catholic Church on Lady's Island, where it raised more than $30,000 from over 500 contributors.