Hunter Boutain is the latest teen to be fatally infected by a brain-eating amoeba. He was 14.

The New York Daily News reported Boutain went swimming in Lake Minnewaska in his home state of Minnesota two days prior to his death. He was unresponsive shortly after being hospitalized, and his family members took to blogs to say they were “praying for a miracle for this rascal.” But despite these prayers, Boutain’s doctors declared him brain dead.

"The Lord didn't want him to stay on Earth,” his older brother Lee Boutain wrote on Facebook. "As much as I am hurt I know I can't love him as much as GOD. For my little brother will be there waiting for me when I leave this earth."

Brain-eating amoebas are formally known as Naegleria fowleri, a parasitic species that thrive in fresh, warm water. They enter the body through the nasal cavity and infect the brain, causing what's known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis. Since 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has investigated two other cases like Boutain’s, including 12 year old Zachary Reyna who was fatally infected after kneeboarding in a watery ditch.

Some suggest the Earth’s rising temperatures were to blame for the increased amount of amoebas given it’s what the CDC refers to as a “heat-loving” microbe. Either way, it’s common, but should we all be concerned?

“The deadly amoeba is common, but can only access the brain through the nose,” Dr. Stacene Maroushek, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Hennepin County Medical Center, told the Daily News. “Diving or jumping into the water seems to pose the greatest risk.”

The CDC affirms “you cannot get infected from drinking water contaminated with [Naegleria fowleri]. You can only be infected when contaminated water goes up into your nose.” And as common as they are, swimming in their natural environments — lakes, rivers, and hot springs — only results in zero to eight infections per year.

This number is small compared to the number of parasites known to exist in the nation’s waters.

“The illness itself is devastating, but the fact is that this is a very rare infection. It’s not a new infection, we’ve known about this for decades, and there’s no evidence that the number is increasing,” Dr. Roy Gulick, infection disease expert of the Weill Cornell Medical College, told PBS. “If you compare it to the odds of having a traffic accident on your way to the lake or drowning in the lake, this is much smaller.”

While there’s no data or method to accurately detect risk of infection, avoiding diving as Maroushek mentioned (nose plugs are an option) can reduce risk if swimmers are inclined to swim in lakes. Researchers too believe they’re making headway in terms of treatment.

A more recent study suggested the body’s own immune response is why the parasite is so fatal in the first place. It’s not just that the parasite eats through brain tissue, but it triggers an inflammatory response. Figuring out a way to suppress this inflammation before administering drugs to treat the infection could be huge.