A brain-eating amoeba kills Lily Mae Avant, a Texas girl, after swimming in the Brazos River, confirms her family

A primary school student in Texas died after contacting an amoeba who was eating the brain while she was swimming in a local lake, confirmed her family. CBS News affiliate KWTX says Lily Mae Avant, 10, died early Monday after being hospitalized at the Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth last week.

According to KWTX, officials estimate that Lily contracted the brain amoeba after swimming in the Brazos River during Labor Day weekend. Lily apparently became ill with a headache and fever last weekend after swimming.

Cook's Children's physicians determined that she was suffering from Amebic Primary meningoencephalitis (PAM), a brain infection caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri, reports CBS DFW.

"The doctors told us that they could not do anything more for her and that they had exhausted all available resources because of the fact that it was an accident." so fatal and the victims were so quickly victimized, "Lily's aunt Crystal Warren told KWTX. "For this to happen to her when there were so many other people in the same waters on the same days, we simply do not understand why it was her."

Lily Mae Before

Family photo via KWTX

Lily attended Valley Mills Elementary School. Her schoolmates in Whitney, Texas, observed a two-minute silence for her Friday.

CBS News has Posted previously on deaths caused by Naegleria fowleri, which may lead to a condition called amoebic primitive meningoencephalitis (AMP). This disease of the central nervous system is almost always fatal.

In the United States, only four out of 143 people survived the infection from 1962 to 2017, according to the CDC. The amoeba affects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose and infiltrates into the brain. A person can not be infected by swallowing water contaminated with Naegleria fowleri.

Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in the southern states of the United States during the hot summer months. However, recently it has also been discovered and caused infections in some northern states. Although the infection is rare, people should be aware of the low level risk when they swim in lakes, rivers and hot springs of fresh water.