Officials at a Columbia, South Carolina, children’s hospital confirmed Tuesday that a patient there recently died due to the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri.
Prisma Health Children’s Hospital said the patient died from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection caused by the amoeba, according to CBS News. No other details were provided regarding the victim’s identity or their infection.
The South Carolina Department of Public Health said it confirmed the case the week of July 7, and that the amoeba is commonly found in lakes, ponds and rivers, according to Columbia’s WIS-TV. The amoeba travels up the nose and from there infects the brain.
State health officials told CBS News that the case was the first in South Carolina since 2016 and that the victim was likely infected at the state’s Lake Murray.
“We don’t generally provide updates to the public on this particular organism. This is not a reportable condition