Twelve-year-old Jaysen Carr died in July 2025. While he swam in Lake Murray, a reservoir a few miles from Columbia, South Carolina, Naegleria fowleri – a rare amoeba found in warm fresh water – entered through his nose, causing a rapidly fatal brain infection.
Each year in the United States, drowning causes roughly 4,500 deaths, while infections from brain-eating amoebas typically number only two or three. Yet the vividness of these rare deaths powerfully shapes how people perceive and respond to risk. After a 2025 amoeba-related death made headlines in Iowa, for example, open-water swimmers began questioning whether lakes were safe, even as health officials emphasized how rare such infections remain.
