Boy dies from brain-eating amoeba after deadly parasite swam up his nose while he was going for a swim in lake

A CHILD has died after a brain-eating amoeba travelled up his nose when he went swimming in a lake.

The boy, from Clark County, Nevada, died from an infection after being exposed to the parasite in Lake Mead.

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The Nevada boy is believed to have died from a brain-eating amoeba infection[/caption]

It is believed he came into contact with the deadly amoeba while swimming near the Hoover Dam.

He began to develop symptoms about a week later, per a statement from the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD).

“My condolences go out to the family of this young man,” Fermin Leguen, the district health officer, says in the statement.

“While I want to reassure the public that this type of infection is an extremely rare occurrence, I know this brings no comfort to his family and friends at this time.”

Health authorities from the state have only identified the boy as male and under the age of 18.

It is believed that he was fatally exposed to the amoeba while swimming in the lake on October 5, and health officials confirmed his death on October 19.

The brain-eating amoebae, also known as Naegleria fowleri, are found in warm, fresh bodies of water.

They enter the brain through the nose and destroy brain tissue, resulting in a deadly infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

PAM symptoms usually begin after around five days, and often include headache, nausea, fever and vomiting.

As the infection deteriorates, symptoms progress into confusion, stiffness in the neck, seizures, hallucinations, and coma.

The death rate for PAM victims is a devastating 97%, and only four people have reportedly survived the infection since 1962.

The Nevada boy is the third person to die this year from the amoeba.

In July, a man contracted the fatal infection after swimming in a lake during a trip to Iowa.

The Missouri man is believed to have contracted Naegleria fowleri while visiting the Lake of Three Fires in Taylor County.

Another young boy died in August after swimming in the Elkhorn River in Nebraska, while last year a three-year-old boy died after contact with the amoeba in a splash pad at a park in Texas.