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Report: 6-year-old Texas boy dies from brain-eating amoeba

Josiah McIntyre is being remembered by his friends, family and his favorite Astros player

Generic image of a hospital bed. (Pixabay)

HOUSTON, Texas – A 6-year-old Houston boy died earlier this week in the hospital from brain-eating amoeba, according to a news report from ABC 13.

Josiah McIntyre, a young Houston Astros fan and baseball player, was battling what initially appeared to be a viral infection. However, as his symptoms worsened, his family took him to the hospital after he started vomiting and running a fever, ABC 13 reports.

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“He got tested for a lot of different things and they thought it was just a viral infection that was pretty much taking its course, because that’s what his symptoms were showing," his mother Maria told ABC 13 in an interview.

Doctors discovered it wasn’t a viral infection that Josiah was battling; rather, it was a brain-eating amoeba. He died Tuesday in the hospital, according to ABC 13′s report.

“There was a very slim to none chance for him and I wish he would’ve gotten that slim chance, but I understand,” Maria told ABC 13. “But it was hard."

Josiah’s mother said her son died while wearing a Carlos Correa jersey and while listening to Astros' highlights.

It wasn’t long before Carlos Correa heard about Josiah’s passing, and he recorded a video of himself and sent it to his mother, Maria, in honor of his young fan, ABC 13 reports.

Maria told ABC 13 that her son would be overjoyed to hear the words from one of his favorite baseball players.

“We’ll forever be grateful and we’ll forever cherish those sweet words from them."

RELATED: The 10-year-old girl who contracted a brain-eating amoeba while swimming has died


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