Deadly Infection kills the boys, ages 7 and 9

Two children died after being infected with a rare parasite associated with swimming in stagnant water, health officials said in Tulsa.

The boys, ages 7 and 9, died after being infected with a rare parasite associated with swimming in stagnant water, health officials said in Tulsa. Two children did not know each other but were both believed to have been swimming in area ponds before contracting Naegleria, an amoeba that enters the body through the nose and can cause a deadly inflammation of the brain.

Three city pools were closed for testing, although health officials doubt the boys contracted the disease there.

Both boys came to doctors with symptoms of fever, hallucinations and headaches, Tulsa Health Department spokeswoman Melanie Christian said.

Of the 200 known cases of Naegleria in the past 40 years, only two people have survived, health officials said, Washington Post reports.