A brain eating Amoeba killed a teen who went on a church trip to Charlotte, North Carolina. The 18 years old Ohio woman died of primary amoebic mengioencephalitis on Sunday. Mitzi Kline, director of communication for Franklin County Public Health said,  “It is a rare but fatal brain infection caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri,”

The amoeba is commonly found in warm freshwater and soil, according to the CDC. It also grows in pipes but not salt water such as oceans. In response to the incident, the U.S. National Whitewater Center said in a statement that it gets its water from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Department and two wells on its property, it disinfects all water with ultraviolet radiation and chlorine. "The levels of UV radiation disinfection utilized every day, continuously, at the Center are sufficient to 'inactivate' the water born amoeba in question to an effective level of 99.99%,"

State and county health officials are working with the CDC and the water park to investigate the death. CDC personnel are in North Carolina and expected to take samples of the water as part of the investigation.

By Prakriti Neogi