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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A female University of Oregon student who was a member of the school's acrobatics and tumbling team died Tuesday, and county public health officials are trying to determine whether the death may be linked to a contagious bacterial infection that sent three other students to hospitals.
The university's athletics department identified the student who died as freshman Lauren Jones, 18.
Jones graduated from Southwest Dekalb High School in Lithonia, Georgia, in 2014. She was the captain of Southwest Dekalb's varsity gymnastics team and was named the most valuable player her senior season, the Oregon athletics department said. She was majoring in chemistry.
The athletics department release said she died "unexpectedly Tuesday after requiring medical attention."
Jones lived on campus and an ambulance was called to her dorm, Barnhart Hall, university spokeswoman Julie Brown told The Oregonian. No other details about the death were released Tuesday night.
An autopsy was planned Wednesday, said Lane County Public Health spokesman Jason Davis. Health officials plan tests to determine whether Jones died from complications of meningococcemia.
Aside from the previous students' diagnoses, it was unclear why officials suspected meningococcemia in Jones' death, The Register-Guard reported (http://is.gd/qd0TOm).
Acrobatics and tumbling head coach Chelsea Shaw called the death "a terrible and sudden loss for our whole Oregon community."
"Lauren was such a positive and bright spirit every day, and her smile was contagious," Shaw said in a statement. "She will be greatly missed and our prayers and deepest condolences go out to her whole family, friends, previous teammates and anyone else who had the opportunity to know Lauren."
The infection has sickened three other UO students since mid-January. All have been released from hospitals and are recovering.
On Tuesday night, UO Health Center employees visited Barnhart Hall to offer antibiotics that keep the bacteria from spreading, Brown said. About 500 students live in the dorm.
The school also plans to administer the antibiotic to an unspecific number of student-athletes, the spokeswoman said.
In the three confirmed cases, the university sent hundreds of emails and text messages to more than 2,000 students and faculty who might have shared a class with the affected students.
Recently, it also sent a campuswide email reminding students to avoid sharing coffee cups or utensils.
A bacterium causes meningococcal disease, which can lead to meningitis, the potentially life-threatening swelling of the membranes that protect the brain and spinal cord. Or it can cause meningococcemia, an infection of the bloodstream that can damage the walls of blood vessels and organs. Both ailments can be fatal.
The bacterium that causes meningococcemia is contagious, spread through kissing, sharing utensils or cups, and being within 3 feet of an infected person for at least four hours over a seven-day period. It does not spread as easily as flu or measles viruses.
Lillian Pagenstecher, a 21-year-old UO student, died of bacterial meningitis in May 2012, The Register-Guard reported.
In 2001, UO freshman Jill Dieringer died after contracting bacterial meningitis.
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
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