Mary Bowerman

USA TODAY Network

A South Carolina girl died Friday after contracting a brain-eating amoeba infection while swimming in a river, according to health officials.

Hannah Collins, 11, died on Friday, just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed she contracted Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis, known as PAM, which is a severe brain infection caused by an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri, according to the Beaufort Gazette.

Hannah, who was not named in the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control statement, was likely exposed to the organism on July 24 while swimming in the Edisto River in Charleston County.

The girl’s father, Jeff Collins, told the Gazette, he was briefly released from jail to visit his daughter shortly before her death.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to spend the time with her that I did, but I wish it could have been more,” he told the Gazette Wednesday.

Collins, who has since been released, was in jail for a traffic citation and was held because he had an outstanding warrant for failing to pay child support, according to the newspaper.

Infections are usually found in southern and southwestern states, though two people have died from the organism as far north as Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

Naegleria fowleri symptoms typically mirror bacterial meningitis, starting with fever, chills, headaches and a stiff neck, according to the CDC. People can limit their exposure to the organism by avoiding the amount of water that gets into their nose, especially when water temperatures are high.

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It takes a rare cocktail of factors to contract the amoeba, Linda Bell, M.D. and South Carolina state epidemiologist, said in a statement.

"First, you must be swimming in water in which the amoeba is present," she said. "Second, you must jump into the amoeba-containing water feet-first, allowing the water to go up your nose with enough force that the amoeba can make its way to the brain. Most commonly, exposure results in the amoeba dying before causing infection."

Hannah is the second person to die after contracting a brain-eating amoeba in the Carolinas this summer. In June, an Ohio teenager died after contracting a suspected brain-eating amoeba infection while visiting the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., according to health officials.

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