Here's a grim reminder about nasal irrigation safety: a 71-year-old Texas woman is dead after using RV campground tap water in her sinus rinse device, reports CBS News.
The CDC reports she contracted Naegleria fowleri — the notorious "brain-eating amoeba" — which caused a fatal brain infection. Within just four days, she developed "fever, headache and altered mental status," and despite medical treatment, she suffered seizures and died eight days after symptoms appeared.
This microscopic killer typically infects people during summer swims in warm lakes and rivers. You can't get it from swallowing contaminated water or from infected people — it needs direct access to your brain through your nose.
The culprit was hiding in ordinary tap water, which should never be used for nasal irrigation. The CDC urges neti pot aficionados to use only "distilled, sterile or boiled and cooled tap water" for sinus rinses.
If you're splashing around in freshwater this summer, the CDC recommends "holding your nose or wearing a nose clip if you are jumping or diving" and "keeping your head above water in hot springs."
The takeaway? I'm glad I hate swimming and squirting water up my nose.
Previously:
• Arkansas toddler dies after contracting rare brain-eating amoeba from country club splash pad
• CDC report reveals contaminated RV water source of brain-eating amoeba in recent death
• How does a brain-eating amoeba eat brains?
• California woman killed by brain-eating amoeba
• 6 die from brain-eating amoeba in lakes
• 'Brain-eating' amoebas kill woman who used filtered tap water in neti pot
