The Naegleria fowleri is a free-living amoeba, which is a one-celled organism that thrives in warm fresh water like lakes, rivers and hot springs, the CDC states. It is usually called the brain-eating amoeba because it can infect and destroy brain tissue. Infections from the amoeba are rare but nearly always fatal.

Officials previously announced that a person died from a brain-eating amoeba but could not verify where they were exposed to it.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - On Saturday, the Midlands community rallied around the family of 12-year-old Jaysen Carr. Carr was a student at Hand Middle School who died after being infected with an amoeba he contracted at Lake Murray earlier this month.

Community members in South Carolina continue to rally around the family of 12-year-old Jaysen Carr, who died after being infected with an amoeba he contracted at Lake Murray.

While Vibrio vulnificus thrives in brackish water, freshwater presents a different but equally rare threat: Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba.