The brain-eating amoeba: an excavate parasite that can switch between amoeba and flagellate forms.
Lillian Smart has died after being diagnosed with Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba found in warm freshwater. Health officials say the infection is rare and nearly always fatal; the likely exposure occurred at Lake Claiborne. The Louisiana Department of Health confirms the state's first PAM case since 2013. Authorities warn swimmers to keep heads out of water and use nose clips.