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Brain-eating amoeba survivor: I'm loved
01:41 - Source: CNN

Kali Hardig talks to CNN’s ‘New Day’ about her recovery from a severe parasite infection , tomorrow 6am ET

Story highlights

Kali Hardig, 12, is finally leaving Arkansas Children's Hospital

Kali is walking with assistance during therapy sessions, hospital says

Amoeba causes brain infection, nearly always fatal, according to the CDC

Parasite generally found in people who swim in warm fresh water

CNN  — 

The Arkansas girl was infected with the same rare, brain-eating parasite a couple of weeks ago and was in the intensive care unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Soon after entering the hospital earlier this summer, Kali Hardig went into critical condition; she was unresponsive and unable to breathe without the assistance of a breathing tube.

Now she’s eating, drinking, smiling and talking. She has even been walking with assistance and swimming in the hospital’s therapeutic pool.

A new photo released this week shows the dramatic improvement she has made. In the photo, Kali is sitting up in her hospital bed, smiling.

Kali’s doctors have been in virtually uncharted territory as they treat her for the rare amoeba, called Naegleria fowleri. Of 128 known cases in the past half-century, just two patients have survived, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kali is one of two 12-year-olds who recently contracted the amoeba. Zachary Reyna of Florida died last month of the parasite, even after receiving the same experimental drug that was given to Kali. He contracted the amoeba after kneeboarding in a water-filled ditch by his house August 3, his family told CNN affiliate WBBH.

Naegleria fowleri is found in hot springs and warm fresh water, most often in the southeastern United States.

Between 2001 and 2010, there were 32 reported cases in the United States, the CDC says. Most of the cases were in the Southeast.

The amoeba enters the body through the nose and travels to the brain. You cannot be infected with the organism by drinking contaminated water, the CDC says.

“This infection is one of the most severe infections that we know of,” Dr. Dirk Haselow of the Arkansas Department of Health told CNN affiliate WMC about Hardig’s case. “Ninety-nine percent of people who get it die.”

Why ‘nightmare bacteria’ on the rise

Dr. Sanjiv Pasala, one of Kali’s attending physicians, said they immediately started treating her with an anti-fungal medicine, antibiotics and a new experimental anti-amoeba drug doctors got directly from the CDC. They also reduced the girl’s body temperature to 93 degrees. Doctors have used that technique in some brain injury cases to preserve undamaged brain tissue.

Two weeks ago, doctors checked the girl’s cerebral spinal fluid and could not find any presence of the amoeba.

Pasala said that while other cases have not met with such favorable results, what may have made a real difference is that Kali’s mother got her to the hospital so quickly.

Willow Springs Water Park in Little Rock is the most likely source of Kali’s infection, according to a news release from the Arkansas Department of Health. Another case of the same infection, also called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, was reported in 2010 and was possibly linked to Willow Springs.

Dr. Sanjiv Pasala, one of Hardig’s attending physicians, says doctors immediately started treating Hardig with a new experimental anti-amoeba drug they received directly from the CDC. They also reduced the girl’s feverish body temperature to 93 degrees. Doctors have used that technique in some brain injury cases as a way to preserve undamaged brain tissue.

What’s in your pool water?

The first symptoms of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis appear one to seven days after infection, including headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck, according to the CDC.

“Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations,” the government agency’s website states. “After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within one to 12 days.”

CNN’s William Hudson, Jacque Wilson, Jen Christiansen, John Bonifield, Caleb Hellerman, Jennifer Bixler and Leslie Holland contributed to this story.