ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Orange County Health Department issued a warning to swimmers Wednesday concerning freshwater ponds and lakes after a 10-year-old boy died when an amoeba apparently entered his body.

Officials said Will Sellers was treated at Arnold Palmer Hospital for amoebic encephalitis after swimming in Lake Conway, WKMG-TV reported. Sellers died Wednesday at the hospital from amoebic encephalitis, or acute swelling of the brain

The amoeba suspected of infecting the boy usually enters a swimmer's body through the nose and travels to the brain and spinal cord.

"It is usually a fatal infection," a health official said. "So, often when this occurs, there is going to be a fatality. The course of events is usually three to seven days to become very critically ill."

Officials said if people are going to swim, they are urged to use a nose plug and avoid anything that may cause the amoeba to go up the nose.

Symptoms of amoebic encephalitis include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance. Seizures and hallucinations are also common with the infection.

The infection, which is rare, cannot be spread from person to person.

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