12-Year-Old Hit with Deadly, Brain-Eating Amoeba

Twelve-year-old Karli Hardig was just out for a swim at an Arkansas water park when she contracted an extremely rare, deadly brain-eating amoeba.

She is the second person to have come done with what health experts are referring to as amoebic meningoencephalitis in three years, according to the Daily Mail. She was diagnosed shortly after swimming in the lake at Willow Springs Water Park near Little Rock, Arkansas.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only two people in the world have been known to survive the infection since it was first discovered back in 1962.

This free-living microscopic ameba can cause devastating effects on the brain. It is typically found in freshwater, including lakes, rivers and hot springs or soils. It usually infects individuals when contaminated water enters the nose.

The CDC notes that once the ameba has entered the body, it travels directly to the brain with usually fatal results.

Yet Karli's family are hopeful that she will become the third survivor of the infection.

"We are just going to take baby steps, but other than that, she's doing remarkable," said her mother, via the Daily Mail. "She's a little miracle."

The CDC notes that there have been a total of 128 cases of amoebic meningoencephalitis in the U.S. in the past five decades. It is more common in the summer as the disease is activated in warm waters. However, experts note that most have never even heard of the deadly and rare health issue, and thus, are uncertain of how to protect themselves and when.