Waterpark Where Westerville Teen Contracted Fatal Amoeba To Reopen Today

The whitewater channels at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in North Carolina are scheduled to reopen today, six weeks after a Westerville teen died of a rare brain-eating amoeba. The center shut down its whitewater rafting course in late June after 18-year-old Lauren Seitz died from an infection caused by the amoeba. Channels at the center were drained after the water tested positive. Mecklenburg County health officials have described a plan to monitor water at the center, which installed a new chlorination system to kill microbes. The county will watch the center weekly through August, but reduce visits in September and for the rest of the year. Seitz contracted primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is typically found in warm bodies of freshwater such as rivers and lakes and enters the human body through the nose.