Texas Boy Dies From Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba After Playing At Splash Pad

A young boy has died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba while playing at a splash pad in Arlington, Texas.

The boy was hospitalized on September 5 with amebic meningoencephalitis, an infection caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri. The child passed away on September 11, the city of Arlington announced.

The city is withholding the boy's name and age to protect his identity.

The cause of the boy's fatal illness was traced back to a splash pads at Don Misenhimer Park. The splash pads passed the city's inspection at the start of the summer, but records show that they were not properly maintained after that, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported.

Errors made by city employees include not testing the splash pads' water quality and checking the water's chlorine levels, which kill off pathogens and other harmful diseases in the water.

"To know that there is a role that the city may have played in that is highly disturbing," said Lemuel Randolph, deputy city manager for the city of Arlington, told Fox 4.

The parasite Naegleria fowleri typically infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose.

This isn't the first time a child has died from the rare amoeba in Texas. A 6-year-old boy in Lake Jackson passed away in September 2020 after contracting the amoeba from untreated water.

Arlington has closed all of its splash pads until the end of the year.