Woman dies from brain-eating amoeba after using tap water in a neti pot.

[Cattledog]

By Nancy Clanton, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

One year after a 69-year-old woman used a neti pot to flush her sinuses, she was dead.

When medication didn’t clear up the Seattle woman’s chronic sinus infection, her doctor suggested she use a neti pot twice a day. A neti pot is a sinus irrigation device that channels water through to wash out mucus and debris.

The woman used filtered — but not sterile or saline — water in the pot, however. After a month of irrigating her sinuses, “she developed a quarter-sized red raised rash on the right side of the bridge of her nose and raw red skin at the nasal opening,” according to the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

After several trips to doctors, including dermatologists, she received a diagnosis of rosacea, but no real relief.

About a year after the rash appeared, the woman had a seizure. A CT scan revealed a lesion on her brain. Doctors at Swedish Medical Center performed a biopsy to determine the cause, and discovered Balamuthia mandrillaris, a free-living amoeba that is found in the soil and fresh water.

“There were these amoebas all over the place just eating brain cells,” Dr. Charles Cobbs, who performed the surgery told the Seattle Times. “We didn’t have any clue what was going on, but when we got the actual tissue, we could see it was the amoeba.”

Within a month, the woman was dead.

https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/woman-dies-from-brain-eating-amoeba-after-using-tap-water-neti-pot/LSMCx1s1ir9zzeD50XZIDO/?fbclid=IwAR2WmAgE_uJVnKbM6_sU58t4q3C5-Y20DG_7eX361ekuvMBeIxyAEWZaZb4

[catbyte]

1. YIKES.

[Eric J in MN]

2. K and R. NT

NT

[chelsea0011]

3. So, does this make CPAP machines worrisome? Or, is this a really a once in billions shot of it

happening again?

[3Hotdogs]

5. CPAP directions recommend distilled water. Distilled water has reached boiling point in order to

evaporate.

[hlthe2b]

4. I can't begin to count how many people I've told to sterilize their water before irrigating sinuses

It usually ends up being a 15 minute argument. People think if they can "shower" in it, then it is "safe" Chlorine and/or filtration doesn't necessarily kill amoeba.

[JudyM]

6. I had no idea, thanks!