TRAGIC

2-Year-Old Nevada Boy Dies of Brain-Eating Amoeba

Authorities suspect the child may have been exposed to the lethal parasite at a hot spring north of Las Vegas.

A 2-year-old boy in Nevada has died after contracting a lethal brain-eating amoeba, possibly at a local hot spring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the unnamed toddler died from exposure to Naegleria fowleri, a single-celled organism that attacks the brain with often lethal results. According to the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, the deadly parasite—which can proliferate in warm bodies of fresh water—enters the body through the nose before reaching the brain. A DPBH investigation has found that the child may have become infected with the amoeba at Ash Springs, a hot spring in southern Nevada’s Lincoln County.