Take Care When Irrigating Your Sinuses

[Recusant]

I've heard occasional reports about this sort of thing. When using neti pots and similar devices, it's good to use distilled or boiled water.

"Texas Woman Dies From Brain-Eating Amoeba After Flushing Sinuses" | Science Alert

A woman in Texas has died from a rare brain infection after flushing her nose with water stored in the tank of a recreational vehicle.

Lab tests on the 71-year-old woman's cerebrospinal fluid confirmed she was infected with Naegleria fowleri, a tiny, free-swimming protozoan also dubbed 'the brain-eating amoeba,' which causes the highly lethal disease primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

This killer bug hangs out in warm bodies of fresh water like ponds, lakes, and even neglected swimming pools. Most infections occur while swimming or engaging in water sports in these places.

"The patient had no recreational exposure to fresh water; however, she had reportedly performed nasal irrigation on several occasions using non-boiled water from the RV potable water faucet during the four days before illness onset," a CDC case report details.

"Despite medical treatment for a suspected PAM infection, the patient developed seizures and subsequently died eight days after symptom onset."

Authorities were unable to detect the amoeba in samples from the RV tank or the campground water supply, which may be because they took samples 23 days after the possible exposure took place.

[Continues . . .]

[Dark Lightning]

Rare, but yes, I've seen reports of this, too. I don't use a Neti pot. I put salt in a Dixie cup and add tap water. The water is unlikely to have that amoeba present, and it's probably certain that it can't survive long in the high salinity that I use. I discovered a few years ago that when I get a runny nose it's usually allergies. As soon as my nose starts to burn, I restart using Nasacort. Beats the hell out of Benadryl, I can tell you that.

[Tank]

Talk about a statistical outlier!

[Dark Lightning]

Talk about a statistical outlier!

Yup! I hear about a case once in a while, less than one a year.