Omaha officials say that a local child’s death may be caused by a brain-eating amoeba from Elkhorn River.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services reports that this would be the state’s first death from the brain-eating amoeba, called Naegleria Fowleri.
The amoeba is usually found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, and ponds in the United States, and is more commonly found in the south but has been observed further north recently.
The amoeba can cause an extremely rare brain infection when water containing the amoeba rushes up the nose and reaches the brain. The infection is nearly always fatal.
