Girl Who Contracted Brain-eating Parasite Making Significant Strides

Kali Hardig, 12, is reportedly making significant strides after contracting a rare form of meningitis caused by the brain eating parasite Naegleria fowleri.

Exactly one month after she was admitted into Arkansas Children's Hospital, Hardig reportedly spoke the words "Hi Mama," KATV reports, managing to walk across her room with help of others a day later.

"Kali is doing so amazing and we are so proud of her," Hardig's mother, Traci Hardig, said. "She just does something everyday and it blows us away."

Hardig's success means she is well on her way to becoming the second person in the last 50 years to survive the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of which 128 cases have been reported during that same time period.

According to USA Today, doctors are citing the use of an experimental breast cancer drug and a dramatic drop in body temperature as the possible reasons behind Hardig's success, adding that the girl's doctors are in communication with those treating Zachary Reyna, 12, who contracted the same infection earlier this month.

Hardig is believed to have contracted the disease, known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), while swimming in a sandy-bottom lake near her home in Arkansas. Reyna, on the other hand, appears to have contracted it while knee boarding in a water-filled ditch near his home in LaBelle, Fla.

Reyna remains in the intensive care unit at Miami Children's Hospital, USA Today reports.

Naegleria fowleri thrive in warm freshwater, entering through the nose and traveling to the brain where it proceeds to eat away at brain tissue.

Symptoms include seizures, confusion, hallucinations and a stiff neck with the average person dying within five days from the start of symptoms.

To avoid contracting the amoeba, the CDC encourages those who choose to swim in fresh water to hold their nose or keep their head above water and to avoid stirring up sediment.