Most people who come into contact with Naegleria fowleri never get sick. The amoeba can only infect a person when contaminated water goes up the nose, often during swimming or diving. It then travels to the brain, where it destroys brain tissue.

A lawyer for the family of 12-year-old Jaysen Carr said he died on July 18 after contracting a deadly infectious amoeba while swimming in a reservoir.

Tyler Bailey, a Columbia attorney, has been hired to conduct an independent investigation into the patient's death.