Posted on 12/16/2011 11:57:16 AM PST by decimon
Louisiana's state health department has issued a warning about the dangers of improperly using nasal-irrigation devices called neti pots, responding to two recent deaths in the state that are thought to have resulted from "brain-eating amoebas" entering people's brains through their sinuses while they were using the devices.
Both victims are believed to have filled their neti pots with tap water instead of manufacturer-recommended distilled or sterilized water. When they used these pots to force the water up their noses and flush out their sinus cavities — a treatment for colds and hay fever — a deadly amoeba living in the tap water, called Naegleria fowleri, worked its way from their sinuses into their brains. The parasitic organism infected the victims' brains with a neurological disease called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAME), which rapidly destroys neural tissue and typically kills sufferers in a matter of days.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The mouth and digestive tract contain all sorts of friendly bacteria that destroy invaders.
Are you sure your shower doesn’t run amoebas? Where’s the water coming from? What level of treatment is it getting before getting to you? In this case what makes the water OK to drink but not to snort is the distance between where the water lands (stomach or sinus) and the brain. Then even with other bugs the stomach is filled with digestive acids that can kill quite a bit, sinuses don’t have that line of defense. And less dramatically the mineral level in normal water probably isn’t so hot on your sinuses, same as with a battery.
>>>And what would “digestive juices” do, pray tell?
Stomach acid kills lots of things before they can make you sick.
I think that steam works so I wouldn’t be forcing water up my beak to clear my sinuses.
Better watch out for Chinese honey. It has no pollen.
Boiler Makers, for when you aren’t quite sure if it is a cold or the flu.
saw this earlier today and did a google. It seems the bug lives in warmer climes. Apparently we in the north have to worry about democrats, but not this one. sd
A mild saline is always what I use. If you are dumb enough to put tap water in the meti pot all bets are off. That’s why they have directions....
They kill the types of amoeba in question.
"You just made that up, didn't you?
No.
Scary. I actually use one of those on occasion. Got it @ Walgreens. I always use the packets of saline. I use it to help open the Eustachian tubes when my ears get stopped up. It’s the only thing that seems to work for that.
Your gut has an acid level that kills most of these little critters....your sinuses don’t
Is that what's meant when a Kennedy or Cuomo is picked for office?
If there are amoebas in your drinking water, “digestive juices” are not going to save you.
I use a netti-pot and swear by it.
It does warn you to use boiled water, I use the cooled kettle water.
Maybe you tap (shower) water is better than mine but my tap water burns my sinuses.
The little packet is salt and baking soda that makes it so it does not burn.
It will burn a little if the power is not fully mixed, even.
It works better than a steaming pot or a hot shower.
I do not think they are trying to sell anything, they are saying that you could die a horrible death from using one with (contaminated) tap water!
I would think well water would be worse than tap, but what do I know? :-)
This story says otherwise.
“N. fowleri only seems capable of reaching the brain if it’s given a big boost by being squirted deep into a person’s nasal passages. That’s why water that is considered safe to drink or bathe in isn’t necessarily safe to use in a neti pot, Yoder said.”
There are some organism that survive the purification process but are acceptable due to the fact that they pose no risk when water is consumed properly.
Snorting up into the deep sinuses is not proper consumption of water.
The organisms thrive in that environment because it is not the same as the gastrointestinal track.
What do you get out of repeatedly having your ignorance demonstrated on a public forum?
The research was probably paid for by the distilled water companies, or bottled water people. Another reason not to drink or use tap water. “Buy our water and you will be safe.” A whole segment of the civil rights movement was based on drinking water out of a fountain. Now they are saying tap water is not safe. All that struggle for nothing.
“Use our product, and have your brain eaten by amoebas” doesn't sound like a great sales pitch to me.
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