CDC confirms Nebraska child died of brain-eating amoeba

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Federal health officials have confirmed that a Nebraska child died from a rare infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba.

Health officials say it’s the same type of infection that took the life of a Missouri resident in July after swimming in a southwestern Iowa lake.

It is the second death in the Midwest this summer from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, an infection caused by the amoeba that is almost always fatal.

The Douglas County Department of Health in Omaha said Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the presence of the naegleria fowleri amoeba in the child.

Authorities have not released the child’s name. Health officials believe the child became infected Sunday while swimming in the Elkhorn River near Omaha.