10-Year-Old Texas Girl Dies of Brain-Eating Amoeba

A 10-year-old Texas girl who contracted a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a river over Labor Day weekend has died. Lily Mae Avant’s family initially thought she had a common virus, but she fell gravely ill last Tuesday and was rushed to the hospital, where doctors determined a single-cell organism known as Naegleria fowleri had made her sick. She was placed in a medically induced coma but was unable to fight off the infection and died Monday morning. “Our Lily Mae changed lives and brought unity to a divided nation. It’s just like her! She loved everyone, and people felt it even through a TV or Facebook. She taught us so much more than we ever taught her,” her aunt, Loni Yadon, told ABC News.