A Georgia resident has died from a rare, nightmarish brain-eating amoeba, the Georgia Department of Public Health revealed Friday. “A Georgia resident has died from Naegleria fowleri infection, a rare infection which destroys brain tissue, causing brain swelling and usually death,” the GDPH said in a news release, adding that the victim was probably infected while swimming in a freshwater pond or lake. Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that lives only in freshwater, only infects about three people in the U.S. every year, but those infections tend to be fatal. Only 154 cases have been confirmed from 1962 to 2021, and only four of those survived, according to the CDC. Those infected can experience symptoms including severe headaches, fever, nausea, vomiting, seizures, hallucinations and even coma.
