Lauren Seitz, an 18-year-old about to start college in Ohio, died Sunday after she was exposed to a brain-eating amoeba, Fox 26 reports. It's unclear exactly how it happened, but she was possibly infected while whitewater rafting at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Seitz died from a condition called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, which is an extremely rare brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, a single-celled organism found in warm freshwater. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it does not cause infection when swallowed, but it does cause infection when the organism enters the nose. Once it gets into the body through the nose, it travels to the brain, where it causes the disease. Of the 133 people infected since 1962, only three have survived.

According to the Charlotte Observer, officials on the local, state, and national level are investigating Seitz's death and testing the water at the whitewater center. The center released a statement explaining that all the water there is tested every week and disinfected with UV rays and chlorine, to the point where it would "inactivate" the amoeba "to an effective level of 99.99%." After her death was reported, the center released additional chlorine into the water and is requesting more tests.

Seitz was in the Charlotte with a church youth group to sing at nursing homes and churches. She had graduated high school in May and was preparing to attend Denison University, majoring in environmental science and minoring in music.