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Texas woman dies from brain-eating amoeba after cleaning sinuses with tap water (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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The woman contracted a fatal infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba and died eight days after developing symptoms.

A Texas woman died from an infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba days after she cleaned her sinuses using tap water, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case report.

The woman, an otherwise healthy 71-year-old, developed "severe neurologic symptoms," including fever, headache and an altered mental status, four days after she filled a nasal irrigation device with tap water from her RV's water system at a Texas campsite, the CDC report said.

She was treated for primary amebic meningoencephalitis — a brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, often referred to as the "brain-eating amoeba." Despite treatment, the woman experienced seizures and died from the infection eight days after she developed symptoms, the agency said.

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[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

It's always been tempting to try a neti pot as my sinuses are always clogged and no amount of trying to blow my nose brings anything out

But stories like the amoeba scare me to hell and back, even if I did everything right it would still scare me.

[–] odelik@lemmy.today 5 points 11 hours ago

As a former permastuff allergy sufferer, I can't recommend enough trying out triamcinolone (nasacort). I had tried nasal sprays in the 90s and early 2000s without any luck. About 5 or so years ago, my allergist recommend I give it a try again as a lot of formulas have come around since then and could work for me now. I couldn't believe it, no more permastuffed and there's smells everywhere. Learned that I love the smell of star jasmine flowers.

For me, a puff in each nostril in the morning and another puff as needed when blowing my nose doesn't suffice (which is rare) has turned this perma-stuffed allergy sufferer into a not-perma-stuffed person.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 hours ago

you can buy medical saline from the grocery store.

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 13 hours ago

So I'm an environmental microbiologist. If it's any consolation, these incidents are very rare despite people doing similar things frequently. Even if you do snort water that's home to Naegleria fowleri, infection isn't common. If you take basic precautions, you really don't have anything to worry about.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 5 points 12 hours ago

To use a neti pot you use a saline solution. If you don't trust the water you got at home (boiled first, naturally, both to sterilize and allow for easier dissolution of the salt), you can just buy a bag of NaCl solution in any pharmacy instead.

Just put the sealed bag into a pot of warm water first to bring it up to room temperature or slightly above. Flushing your sinuses with cold water ain't fun.