CBS News A patient in a South Carolina children’s hospital has died of a brain-eating amoeba, according to the facility.
In a news briefing Tuesday, Prisma Health Children’s Hospital-Midlands confirmed the patient died of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, also known as PAM, a rare but often fatal brain infection caused by the Naegleria fowleri organism.
The hospital did not share any more details about the patient.
According to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, the patient’s exposure likely occurred at Lake Murray, though officials said they cannot be completely certain. The department said this is the first known case in the state since 2016.
In the briefing, Dr. Anna-Kathryn Burch, a pediatric infectious disease physician at the hospital, said these infections are “very devastating,” with the vast majority of cases in the United States ending in death.