S.C. Resident Infected |by Brain-Eating Amoeba

(CN) - A South Carolina resident was confirmed to be infected with a deadly brain-eating amoeba on Tuesday, and a drug has been rushed from a pharmaceutical firm in Florida in a bid to save her life.

Officials have not released the name, age, sex or condition of the patient, who is being treated at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Linda Bell, an epidemiologist with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said in a statement that it appears the patient was exposed to the amoeba while swimming on July 24 in the Edisto River in Charleston County.

The amoeba, whose scientific name is Naegleria fowleri, is a one-celled organism that can cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It lives in lakes, rivers and streams in warm climates. Between 2006 and 2015, there have been 37 infections in the United States.

The drug being rushed to the victim is called miltefosine and it is produced by Profounda, of Orlando, Florida.

Although originally developed to fight cancer, the drug has proven successful in fighting leishmaniasis, a disease cause by a parasite transmitted through sand flea bites in tropical climates.

The odds remain long only three people are known to have survived exposure to the amoeba. However, Miltefosine was used to treat one of the survivors, a 12-year-old Arkansas girl, the CDC said.

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