Monday funeral for teen who died from brain infection contracted in lake

July 13, 2015 at 1:49AM
Hunter Boutain, 14, died Thursday, July 9, 2015.
Hunter Boutain, 14, died Thursday, July 9, 2015, from an infection caused by his exposure to a deadly amoeba while swimming in a central Minnesota lake. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A funeral for Hunter Boutain, the 14-year-old who died last week from a brain infection after swimming in a central Minnesota lake, will be held Monday morning.

Boutain died Thursday at a hospital in Minneapolis just days after being exposed to a deadly amoeba while swimming in Lake Minnewaska.

His funeral is scheduled at 11 a.m. Monday at the Holiday Inn in Alexandria.

Boutain had been swimming earlier in the week at Lake Minnewaska, a popular recreation lake near Glenwood and Alexandria.

Health officials believe the teen developed a rare form of meningitis known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is caused by an amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri that is associated with warm, freshwater areas. The infection is considered extremely rare — fewer than 130 deaths have been confirmed nationally since 1962.

"Hunter's condition deteriorated throughout the night and he was declared brain dead this morning," said his uncle, Bryan, last week in a statement provided by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, where the teen had been treated. "Hunter died surrounded by his family."

Boutain had completed eighth grade at Discovery Middle School in Alexandria, where he played in the orchestra and jazz band and helped produce an in-school TV news show.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Hunter Boutain Memorial Fund c/o Glenwood State Bank in Alexandria.

KAREN ZAMORA

Hunter Boudain.
Hunter Boudain. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Hunter Boudain. ORG XMIT: MIN1507081552050644
Hunter Boutain (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

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