CLOSE Press conference: Teen fights the odds and survives brain-eating amoeba at Florida Hospital. Video by Craig Rubadoux. 
 
 Buy Photo Shiela Black, a laboratory coordinator at Florida Hospital, speaks during the press conference in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016. (Photo: Craig Rubadoux, FLORIDA TODAY)Buy Photo 
 
 ORLANDO – A 16-year-old South Florida boy has defied long medical odds by becoming only the fourth patient in the United States to survive a battle with brain-eating amoeba. 
 
 Sebastian DeLeon, a camp counselor, contracted the dreaded Naegleria fowleri infection after swimming on private property in Broward County, Florida Department of Health officials believe. 
 
 DeLeon began developing meningitis-like symptoms on Aug. 5 during a family vacation to Orlando — and he soon developed such an intense headache that he could not tolerate people touching him, said Dr. Humberto Liriano, a pediatric intensivist at Florida Hospital for Children. 
 
 DeLeon’s family took him to the Florida Hospital for Children emergency room on Aug. 7, where doctors gave him medications, placed him in a chemically induced coma, and lowered his body temperature during a 72-hour stretch. 
 
 “We woke him up, and we decided to take the breathing tube out. And within hours, he spoke,” Liriano recalled, choking up and struggling to maintain his composure during a Tuesday morning pressconference. 
 
 “Since then, he’s done tremendously well. We are very optimistic. He’s walking. He’s speaking. I saw him this morning. He’s ready to go home,” Liriano said. 
 
 Naegleria fowleri is a microscopic amoeba that is commonly found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers and streams. If the amoeba enters the body through the nose, it can cause an extremely rare and devastating infection of the brain, said Dr. Rajan Wadhawan, the hospital’s chief medical officer. 
 
 “In the past 50 years, only four people in the United States have been reported to have survived out of the 138 cases reported, giving it almost a 97 percent mortality rate,” Wadhawan said. 
 
 Buy Photo Press conference Tuesday afternoon at Florida Hospital in Orlando after Sebastian DeLeon age 16 defies odds, and survives Naegleria Fowleri commonly known as brain-eating amoeba found in warm water and has a fatality rate of more than 97 percent. (Photo: Craig Rubadoux/ FLORIDA TODAY ) 
 
 In August 2011, 16-year-old Astronaut High student Courtney Nash of Mims died of the amoebic infection after swimming in the St. Johns River near the Brevard-Volusia county line. 
 
 Prior to Nash’s death, Brevard County’s most recent Naegleria fowleri cases were a Port Malabar Elementary third-grader who swam at Max K. Rodes Park in West Melbourne in 2002 and a 6-year-old boy who was infected in 1980. Both children died. 
 
 DeLeon’s parents briefly attended Tuesday’s press conference, then returned to their son’s hospital room. 
 
 “We are so thankful that God has given us the miracle through this medical team and this hospital for having our son back and having him full of life. He’s a very energetic, adventurous, wonderful teen,” said Brunilda Gonzalez, DeLeon’s mother. 
 
 Because only four victims have survived brain-eating amoeba in the U.S., Wadhawan said researchers do not know precisely why they lived. However, the Florida Hospital for Children medical team hopes its treatment of DeLeon will shape emergency-room protocols across the nation. 
 
 Doctors praised the speedy use of miltefosine, an oral anti-parasitic drug that was delivered to the hospital within 12 minutes by the Orlando-based company Profounda. Miltefosine was administered to three of the four amoeba survivors, Profounda Chief Executive Officer Todd Maclaughlan told reporters. 
 
 The drug is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but has not been approved for this application by the Federal Food and Drug Administration, Maclaughlan said. 
 
 Sheila Black, laboratory coordinator, earned kudos from doctors for first spotting the amoeba in a sample of DeLeon’s spinal fluid. She said the single-cell organisms resemble white blood cells under a microscope. 
 
 “I went back and studied it for a while. The amoeba aren’t always necessarily very active, so you literally have to look and watch. And that’s when I saw the pseudopods moving on the amoeba,” Black said. 
 
 On Sept. 9, Florida Hospital for Children is sponsoring the second annual Amoeba Summit, which is presented by the Jordan Smelski Foundation for Amoeba Awareness. 
 
 Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://on.flatoday.com/2bRVh1B ||||| The South Florida boy who has been battling a very rare infection at Miami Children's Hospital is brain dead and will be taken off life support Sunday night, according to his family. 
 
 Zachary Reyna, 12, was knee-boarding in ditch water in Glades County when he contracted Naegleria fowleri, brain-eating amoeba, through his nose. 
 
 Although antibiotics had successfully fought off the infection, Reyna suffered extensive brain damage. 
 
 The family indicated that Reyna has already "passed" after showing negative brain activity for days, but he will be kept on a ventilator until Sunday night so that his organs can be donated. 
 
 Saturday on Pray4Number4, the Facebook tribute for Reyna referencing the small number of primary amebic meningoencephalitis survivors, his father wrote: 
 
 The infection that claimed the young boy's life is very rare. 
 
 Center For Disease Control officials say there have been only 128 people infected with PAM since 1962. Only three have survived, including another Florida 12 year old who recently contacted the amoeba from a freshwater spring. 
 
 The CDC recommends diminishing risk by limiting water contact with nose (hold nose shut, use nose clips, or keep head above water), avoid water-related activities in warm freshwater during periods of high water temperatures and low water levels, and avoid stirring up bottom sediment in shallow, warm freshwater areas. 
 
 There have also been cases from use of Neti pots, in which contaminated water is used to irrigate the nose. 
 
 Clarification: A headline that appeared on another part of our website on Sunday morning indicated that Reyna was deceased, based on a family statement that he had "passed." As of Sunday afternoon, the Associated Press is reporting that the family says he has no brain activity but remains on a ventilator.
– Zachary Reyna, the 12-year-old Florida boy who was battling a brain-eating amoeba, has "passed," according to his family, and will be taken off life support later today. Reyna has shown negative brain activity for days, but is being kept on a ventilator so his organs can be donated, reports the Huffington Post. " Even though Zac has passed, he will still be saving many lives," his family wrote on his Facebook page. The boy had fought off the infection with antibiotics, but was left with brain damage. In happier news, the 12-year-old girl battling a brain-eating amoeba in Arkansas, is doing better, reports the AP. Kali Hardig has now recovered some speech, according to her parents. "She's not speaking normal, but she is doing wonderful trying to pronounce stuff," says her mother. Hardig can reportedly say "yes," "no," "hi mama," "daddy" and "nanny." "It's still a concern that she could certainly have some deficits long-term and not function entirely as she would have if this had never happened," says one of her doctors, but, she adds, "She's up and participating in all her therapy. ... She's saying more, and things are basically looking good."