On Jul. 22, 2025, Health officials have confirmed a case of brain-eating amoeba in South Carolina.

The state’s Department of Public Health said it was notified of one case of Naegleria fowleri, often called a brain-eating amoeba, in South Carolina the week of July 7.

It is South Carolina’s first case this year, and the state’s first case since 2016. Nationwide, only 167 cases have been reported in the past 62 years, the department said.

Later, the public health department said the exposure occurred at Lake Murray. Dr. Anna Kathryn Burch, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in the Midlands, confirmed a Midlands patient recently died as a result of the infection.

Naegleria fowleri is a free-living amoeba that lives in warm freshwater, such as lakes, rivers, ponds and hot springs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.