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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the ewwwwwh dept.

Fatal brain-eating amoeba may have come from woman's neti pot

A Seattle woman rinsed her sinuses with tap water. A year later, she died of a brain-eating amoeba. Her case is reported this week in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2018.09.013] [DX].

The 69-year-old, whose name was not given, had a lingering sinus infection. For a month, she tried to get rid of it using a neti pot with tap water instead of using sterile water, as is recommended. Neti pots are used to pour saline into one nostril and out of the other to irrigate the sinuses, usually to fight allergies or infections.

According to the doctors who treated the woman, the non-sterile water that she used it thought to have contained Balamuthia mandrillaris, an amoeba that over the course of weeks to months can cause a very rare and almost always fatal infection in the brain.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:22PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:22PM (#771668)

    is that they don't know where she got the infection, but is hypothesizing that she got it from a neti pot, whatever that is, and not from any other source?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:39AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:39AM (#771736)

      FTA:

      Neti pots are used to pour saline into one nostril and out of the other to irrigate the sinuses, usually to fight allergies or infections.

      This bit really should have been added to the summary since neti pots aren't exactly so common that most people know what they are. They are hypothesizing that the woman's use of non-sterile tap water to do nasal lavage with her neti pot was what caused the fatal infection. She had a sore on her nose that was later seen to have been due to the amoeba, so it's not exactly implausible.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 09 2018, @02:23AM (2 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday December 09 2018, @02:23AM (#771754) Journal

        That bit has been in TFS all along...

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        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:18AM (1 child)

          by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:18AM (#771773) Journal

          Yeah, people seem incapable of reading beyond headlines now. That 140-character limit for so long in some social media seems to have rotted people's brains irrevocably.

          Next up -- comments from people who can't even be bothered to read to the end of the headline: "Huh, so this Neti pot an and ameoba got together and thought about something? That's pretty cool -- what were they thinking about again?"

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @05:45AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @05:45AM (#771822)

            tldr

  • (Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:33PM (6 children)

    by aiwarrior (1812) on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:33PM (#771675) Journal

    I also used this method with good results but then realized I should be doing it with sterelized water and thought it was not worth the effort. That and thinking of getting some meningitis through the tap water. A pity because i genuinely felt my airways cleaner and smoother.

    Also what the hell is a neti pot. I am not a native english speaker and there might some others lurking. I know what is a pot also...but what is (a) neti?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:40PM (#771677)
      The name of the ritual is Hindu : Jala Neti - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neti_(Hatha_Yoga)/ [wikipedia.org] Neti pot is a pot suitable for doing (Jala) Neti
    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:34AM (2 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:34AM (#771712)

      I think a lot depends on which tap the water comes from.

      Most municipal water in the western world is so full of chlorine, ammonia and other sterilizing agents that I'm more concerned about putting those in my body than any biological threat. The biggest biological threat in drinking water is usually e coli, cross contamination by wastewater - and of course the other non e coli things that can come with that.

      Our house water is "raw" as delivered from a 200 ft deep aquifer. Typically in Florida the aquifer water is filtered through a deep layer of limestone between the surface and where it is pumped from, although in some places they are proposing injecting river (read: surface runoff) water into the aquifer before it mixes with sea water. The main contaminant we deal with is hydrogen sulfide, but due to our lack of sterilizers we also get a lot of red-brown algae growth, the occasional shot of chlorine bleach tends to keep the pipes fairly clean - but, yeah, I doubt I'd rinse my sinuses with our tap water, just to be safe.

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      • (Score: 2) by Common Joe on Monday December 10 2018, @07:47PM (1 child)

        by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday December 10 2018, @07:47PM (#772515) Journal

        Not just tap water. In the past, others have died from the amoeba growing in the hot water tank. Baffled the testers initially because the cold water didn't show any signs of the amoeba.

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday December 10 2018, @08:39PM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday December 10 2018, @08:39PM (#772549)

          A slow enough moving hot water tank will burn off all the poisonous gasses... I have friends from Borneo who wouldn't think of brushing their teeth with water from the hot tap, much less drinking it - they boil their tea water from the cold - hot tap is basically for showering only.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @06:13PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @06:13PM (#772024)

      >"... thought it [sterilized water] was not worth the effort"

      I always boil the water I use in my neti pot. I make up a half gallon at a time. It takes a little planning, but very little effort. I boil the water for a few minutes in my tea kettle, then turn off the heat and let it cool for about eight hours, usually overnight. Then I pour it into a bottle and add a tablespoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda. When I use it, I fill the pot and heat it in the microwave for about 27 seconds to take the chill off. Rinsing my sinuses after being outside during hay fever season has made nasal sprays such as Nasacort or Beconase mostly unnecessary for me. I didn't know about balamuthia mandrillaris. I was worried about nagleria fowleri. There are probably other organisms that would provide an unfortunate experience if they got up your nose, so a little time spent getting sterile water is worth it.

      • (Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Sunday December 09 2018, @10:05PM

        by aiwarrior (1812) on Sunday December 09 2018, @10:05PM (#772096) Journal

        Thanks for the nice receipt. I think I will give it a try.

        When I said i was not giving it a try it was because I was thinking of buying bottled sterile water. The concern, is that as pointed in your receipt, you need to boil it somewhere and boiling pot may have surfaces which are not sterile. Thus when the water passes through these surfaces, like the nozzle, it may get contaminated. The same for the storage bottle and neti pot. Do you think that such a thoroughness is not required?

        Do you have any special care to clean the neti pot after usage besides putting water and letting it dry?

        How long have you been using this receipt?

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:54PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:54PM (#771680)

    Who's to say she didn't catch the bug by an illegal alien sneezing on her?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:01PM (#771683)

      Who's to say she didn't catch the bug from a war veteran smooching her to get over his PTSD?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:50AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:50AM (#771721)

      Who's to say she wasn't murdered by her own government... making it look like an infection. Most governments do murder their own citizens and also citizens of other countries, so keep an open mind.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Gaaark on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:47AM

        by Gaaark (41) on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:47AM (#771784) Journal

        Who's to say she didn't kill herself with the bacteria in order to get back at her South Italian lesbian lover with green eyes and that gimpy leg she found so attractive who works at the neti pot plant, who just dumped her.

        --
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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:23PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:23PM (#771897)

        > so keep an open mind.

        I wouldn't worry about that. Most Soyentils minds are so open the brain popped out ages ago, and in most cases is already rolling half way down the hill :-)

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:06PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:06PM (#771684)

    Tap water shouldn't contain brain eating amoebas in it. If this is true can the municipality be sued for providing contaminated water?

    I like to mix a tad of hydrogen peroxide with water and hypoallergenic baby shampoo to flush my nose with. Application is very important but if you apply it right it usually does a good job killing the bacteria. Soap is a surfactant allowing the liquid to penetrate deeper into the crevices of you sinuses. Hydrogen peroxide then kills the bacteria.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by crafoo on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:50PM (1 child)

      by crafoo (6639) on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:50PM (#771689)

      Tap water is not sterile. It's safe to drink, it's just not something you want up your nose. Olfactory ensheathing cells provide a bridge across the blood-brain barrier. Viruses and other bad things can get in there and really wreck your life.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:40AM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:40AM (#771714)

        The sinuses are a very scary place. Scarier still, some surgeons use an approach through the sinuses to do some brain surgeries - and apparently they have a high rate of success with less side affects than other approaches and a very low complication from infection rate.

        On the other hand, it has also been shown that tongue piercings can lead to serious brain infections... all depends on the situation.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:38AM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:38AM (#771713)

      can the municipality be sued

      Anybody can be sued for anything. Can a plaintiff potentially win such a case against a municipality? Perhaps if the plaintiff were cagy enough to sample the municipal water at multiple points and show that the municipality had an unaddressed widespread longterm ameoba infection problem in their water delivery system... maybe. If, once informed of the problem, the municipality did nothing about the problem, then likely yes.

      With the right lawyers shopping the case to the right judges and the right jury, you can get millions of dollars in awards from anyone for little or nothing. That's our system.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:21PM (6 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:21PM (#771686)

    For 3-4 years now I wake up with stuff that has gathered in my sinuses in my sleep wanting to follow gravity. For the first 2-3 hours after I get up I cough a lot and blow my nose a lot. Blowing my nose usually results in much ado about nothing, as does my coughing. After 2-3 hours I'm good to go.

    The doctors, they do nothing.

    Would rinsing my sinuses really solve this problem?

    --
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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @11:13PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @11:13PM (#771696)

      You should seriously consider it. Only use lighly salted, boiled then cooled water, use a thermometer to make sure it is down to 98 degrees.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @11:24PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @11:24PM (#771697)

      It depends, and very much so.

      However, giving it a try will only set you back a few bucks total and a few minutes a day, so why not?

      You need clean water. If your tap is known good, there's no reason to buy expensive stuff. You do not need the special prepackaged salts that people will try to sell you, a 0.9% (roughly, don't make a science of it!) solution of table salt is enough, e.g. 9gram salt per 1liter of water. Don't use plain water, that may hurt and will make things worse.

      The feeling is *very* awkward at first! That is normal. Breathe through your mouth, not your nose, and take your time. Also, don't overdo it. Once or twice a day is enough. If not, you need additional treatment by a professional.

      Good luck, no matter whether you try it or not.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:44AM (1 child)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:44AM (#771718)

      There once was a popular nasal spray called "Afrin" or somesuch - I knew somebody who lived under a bunch of oak trees he was allergic to and he was literally addicted to the Afrin sprays, unable to quit. Sterile water was 95% as effective, but he had a psychological component involved I think that convinced him he needed whatever the active ingredient was, too. Once he moved away from the oak forest he was able to quit, after a year or two.

      --
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      • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:13AM

        by sjames (2882) on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:13AM (#771730) Journal

        Part was probably psychological, but there is a significant rebound effect [wikipedia.org] to contend with as well.

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:07AM

      by sjames (2882) on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:07AM (#771728) Journal

      It might work wonders. Not only by clearing the junk out for a while, but making the new accumulation clear easier and not providing a good home for a chronic low level infection.

      Use moderately salty water. Personally I just sniff it up from a juice glass, there's no need for special equipment. BOIL the water and allow it to cool first for reasons TFA makes obvious.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:28PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @01:28PM (#771906)

      Garlic is a good antimicrobial. If my nose is starting to have mucus I eat garlic and it usually helps a lot. For evidence of its antimicrobial properties you can look up videos of garlic zone of inhibition tests. It creates zones of inhibition on petri dishes

      I noticed once when I was on antibiotics for an infection my sinuses during that time were very clear. I had to take the antibiotic three times a day. Garlic has a similar effect on my sinuses, it helps clear them up, but I don't like to take it three times a day because it makes me smell and too much of it can cause minor heart burns every once in while.

      Also make sure you ventilate your room/house every once in a while. I like to keep a window slightly open. It removes all the toxins from the air you breathe and it replenishes the bad bacteria in the air with good bacteria.

      On rare occasions, for very bad infections, I sterilize my nose with a mixture of a little bit of H2O2, hypoallergenic baby shampoo, and water. Application is important here.

  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @02:01AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @02:01AM (#771741)

    Meanwhile half a million people die from acknowledged "medical errors" every year in the US:
    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-america.html [cnbc.com]

    That doesn't include the people dying from over/under-dosing their prescriptions, people who die from expected side effects, etc.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:47AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:47AM (#771811)

    Someone go to Amazon and order one of these.
    Have it shipped to my home
    1600 Pennsyvania Ave
    Washington DC 20500

    Thanks!

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 09 2018, @11:46AM (3 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday December 09 2018, @11:46AM (#771881) Journal

      Is that you, Mr. Pence?

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      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:52PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @12:52PM (#771901)

        I think the whole staff could benefit from such christmas gifts. Maybe also a Chia Obama bust for the kids.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:02PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:02PM (#771962)

          Wouldn't work. They have a natural immunity.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:09PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:09PM (#771966)

        If it is, he's been talking to Mueller again.

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