An Arkansas water park has been closed down after a 12-year-old girl contracted a deadly brain-eating amoeba and was placed in an induced coma.
It’s the first known case of parasitic meningitis in years, according to Medical Daily. The illness is caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri, typically found in freshwater or soil. It enters the human body through the nose, where it then moves to the brain, typically causing death.
The Christian Post reported that Kali Hardig was rushed to the hospital by her mother, Traci Hardig, a day after going swimming in a local lake.
“I couldn’t get her fever down. She started vomiting,” Hardig told the Christian Post. “She’d say her head hurt really bad. She cried, and she would just look at me and her eyes would just kind of roll.”
Doctors put Kali into a coma, in order to stabilize her condition and the Arkansas Department of Health has closed down Willow Springs Water Park, where it is believed that Kali contracted the disease.
