Eight-year-old Lillian Smart dies after brain-eating amoeba infection in Louisiana

Eight-year-old Lillian Smart of Ruston, Louisiana, died on Saturday — one day after her birthday — after contracting the rare and almost always fatal brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. Health officials believe she was infected while swimming in Lake Claiborne. Naegleria fowleri attacks the brain and is extremely difficult to treat.