Girl, 12, in critical condition after contracting deadly brain eating amoeba while swimming at water park

Kali Hardig, 12, contracted primary amoebic meningoencephalitis after swimming at Willow Springs Water Park near Little Rock, Arkansas

Disease is caused by inhaling water infected with the Naegleria amoeba



One two people in the world are known to have survived the disease. Her family is praying she will be number three

She remains in critical condition at the hospital

Kali's disease is the second case to come from the water park

In 2010, 7-year-old Davian Briggs died from amoebic meningitis after swimming in the same lake

A 12-year-old girl is fighting for her life in critical condition after contracting a rare and extremely deadly brain-eating amoeba while swimming at an Arkansas water park.



Kali Hardig is the second person to have come down with primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in three years after swimming in the sandy-bottom lake at Willow Springs Water Park near Little Rock, Arkansas.



Only two people in the world are known to have survived the extremely rare Naegleria infection since the Centers for Disease Control began tracking it in 1962.



Kali's family is praying for her to be the third survivor.

Tragic: Kali Hardig, 12, is in critical condition after contracting a rare amoebic meningitis after she swam in a lake at a water park last week

Hope: Only two people in the world have survived amoebic meningitis and her friends and family members are praying that Kali will be the third

Kali's mother Traci has had t-shirts made for Kali's family and friends with a large, bold number '3' beneath the word's 'Kali's Krew.'



'This is Kali's Krew. Number three stands for the third person who will survive this amoeba disease. My daughter Kali,' she told KLRT-TV .



'We are just going to take baby steps, but other than that, she's doing remarkable. She's a little miracle,'



The condition is caused when the Naegleria parasite enters a patient's brain, usually after accidentally inhaling stagnant, warm water up the nose while swimming.

Arkansas Department of Health spokesman Ed Barham told MailOnline the water must to be forcefully, almost violently, pushed up the nose - as it can be after diving into the water, being dunked or using a water slide.



Naegleria are be found in nearly every freshwater body of water - even lakes. But, they only become active when water heats up.



The cruel irony of the parasite is that the risk is highest when the temperature is hottest - and swimmers are looking for a reprieve from the heat.



Kali's mother says her condition at Arkansas Children's Hospital is improving and the family remains hopeful she will recover - despite the astronomically slim odds

Closed: The owners of Willow Springs Water Park near Little Rock, Arkansas, have shut down the lake after learning of two reported cases of the deadly disease in three years

THE HORRIFIC AMOEBA THAT HAS LEFT ONLY TWO SURVIVORS Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis is as rare as it is horrific. It is caused by an amoeba that implants itself in its victim's brains - usually when infected water shoots of their noses. The amoeba needs very specific conditions to thrive. It grows in the sediment at the bottom of pools of warm, stagnant water and is most active at about 85 degrees. The water must reach a relatively high temperature for the parasites to reach numbers that threaten humans. Health officials have recorded only 125 instances of the disease in the United States in the last 50 years. Only one person has survived in the United States. One other survivor was found in Mexico Health officials say swimmers can reduce their risks even further by: Keeping their heads above water

Using nose clips or holding the nose shut when the head is submerged

Avoid stirring up sediment in shallow areas.



The CDC says there have been 128 cases of the disease in the U.S. in the last five decades - making the disease extremely rare, when compared to the number of lakes and muddy swimming holes Americans dip into for refuge from the summer heat each year.



The amoebas are most active when the water temperature reaches about 85 degrees, Barham said.



However, this is the second time the parasite has infected a swimmer at Willow Springs Water Park.



In August 2010, 7-year-old Davian Briggs died after contracting the disease after he had been swimming at the lake.

Because two cases have been seen from the same body was water, state health officials asked the park owners to close their swimming hole. They obliged.



'Though the odds of contracting Naegleria are extremely low, they are just not good enough to allow our friends or family to swim,' owners David and Lou Ann Ratliff said in a statement.



The park, which attracts up to 250 swimmers a day - and thousands over the course of a summer - is now looking into installing a hard pool bottom at the swimming hole and filling it with chlorinated water supplied by Little Rock.



Kali's mother Traci Harding said she had no idea about the risks of swimming in warm lakes and had never heard of the disease.



'You're a mom, you're a dad. You can still take your child swimming. We don't want to scare people. We just want you to know there are little things you can do to help them out. So they can go and still be a kid,' she said.



She encourages parents to make their children wear nose plugs while swimming - to minimize the risk of inhaling water through the nose and contracting the Naegleria parasite.

Still, Barham, of the health department, says that swimmers really shouldn't be too concerned about the



The U.S. has recorded just 128 cases of Naegleria fowleri infections in the last 50 years