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Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water
- capkutay 8y agoSounds like she was using a neti-pot. I thought most of the neti-pot products made it pretty clear that you're supposed to use previously boiled or distilled bottled water. Maybe they need to make it more clear that the consequences of using tap water can be pretty dangerous.
- cortesoft 8y agoThey do, but I am never sure how that is supposed to be practical. You need to use warm water, which is easy with tap water, but hard to do quickly with distilled or boiled water. I know it has risks, but I still use normal tap water. From what I have read, all of the cases are from people using well water, never from city provided, chlorinated water. It actually says this in the article, too.
- dom96 8y agoCan you explain why you use a neti-pot? I don't know anyone who uses one and I don't really understand the reasons behind it.
- KSS42 8y agoMy wife uses one to clear out her sinuses when they are stuffed due to a cold. Sinus infections cause her pain. Her doctor recommended it. She uses a squeezable bottle. I made sure she only uses distilled water. She dissolves a saline powder in it.
- dhimes 8y agoIt relieves the symptoms of sinusitis. Painful pressure can build in your sinuses, and rinsing can help open passages and equalize the pressure as well as soothe the pain a bit. I also like to think I'm removing bad stuff and helping with the healing process, and maybe killing bad stuff by flushing it with salt water, but this is my own personal myth.
- Ninjaneered 8y agoI use a version* of a net-pot to flush out my sinuses after surfing. If I don't, especially if I surf in a red tide, I get a nasty sinus infection (surfers sinusitis or acute sinusitis). I even had sinus surgery to reduce my turbinates and increase my sinus ducts which helps, but still doesn't prevent the problem. * I use NeilMed's sinus flush which basically is a sealed bottle with a straw I can use to force flush my sinuses, vs. just using gravity.
- cydonian_monk 8y agoI had to use one after a sinus surgery (to remove a not-so-tiny bone spur and then put things back where they belong) to flush out dried blood and whatnot. I've used it a few times after when I have a severe head cold to open things up a bit. Easier and less invasive than going through the background check needed to buy cold medicine.
- QuantumGood 8y agoReduces incidents of mild sleep apnea in conjunction with nasal strips and sleeping on my side. (I determine occurrence of sleep apnea by checking if waking happens between or during sleep cycles.) Also helps with voice work (I am a voice coach), makes for clearer mask resonance.
- QuantumGood 8y ago(An in-hospital sleep study confirmed my self-diagnosis of mild sleep apnea.)
- repolfx 8y agoWhat do you mean by mild? I did a study and had an AHI of 28, my doctors put me on CPAP. I'm not overweight and the machine is set to give hardly any pressure but it still seems to eliminate the issue, at least according to the machine's own counts. If I could fix it with just some nose strips and a neti pot, that would be amazing.
- QuantumGood 8y ago"Mild" used by doc prescribing me Modafinil after study. There were insurance cost concerns as well so I pursued other options. I have to work at keeping my mouth closed, and some nights don't work out well, but most do. I also use alternating combinations of sedatives, and take them in stages (e.g. sometimes a partial pill embedded in a softgel taken after 3 hours of sleep). I'm overweight, and it did start for me after I gained weight
- cortesoft 8y agoIt REALLY clears out your sinuses if you have a lot of mucus (from allergies or a cold). You know how when you blow your nose, you never get everything out? Some of the mucus comes out, but some is driven up into your sinuses because the air is coming from the middle (imagine a tube full of water,and you blow into a hole in the middle... half the water will be blown in each direction) Neti pot will get all of the mucus out (especially when i do it first thing in the morning, before blowing my nose). It comes back, of course, but having a few minutes of mucus free breathing when you have a bad cold or allergies is amazing.
- jeremyjh 8y agoFor me it basically cured a several-years long bout of hay-fever symptoms (constant congestion, could never get it all the mucus out) over a period of just a couple weeks of usage. I use it now just a few times of year whenever I get a cold that causes congestion, because its such a relief to get that crap out of your nasal and sinus passages.
- Marsymars 8y agoSinus pain can be excruciating. In my mid-20s, pretty much any cold or flu I got started being followed by a sinus infection. Most of them are relatively mild, but a couple of them have been truly debilitating. Pseudoephedrine brings some relief, but has side effects. Neti pot brings additional relief, and is free of side effects. (And is much cheaper than PSE.)
- cowpewter 8y agoWhenever I use a neti pot, I use distilled water and heat it for a brief time in the microwave, adding additional room temp distilled afterward if it comes out too hot.
- sokoloff 8y agoExactly this. Putting it in the bottle and microwaving for 38 seconds (experimentally determined, your <microwave> may vary) makes it a nice, comfortable temperature for use.
- gfodor 8y agoIn practice you don't need to use warm water. I do twice daily saline sinus washes with distilled water and it's pretty low maintenance. Tap would be easier but I've always found the idea of using tap water for this to be gross so it's never been an attractive idea.
- cortesoft 8y agoOh man, if the water is room temperature it really hurts my nose.
- jeremyjh 8y agoDo you use the saline packets? That makes it much easier on your nose. I only have to use mine a few times a year but I have a bottle of distilled water that I just use at room temperature and its fine.
- cortesoft 8y agoYes, I use the saline packets. It REALLY hurts without those. But even with them, it hurts at room temperature.
- athenot 8y agoIt's actually quite practical: boil water then stick a thermometer in it. Go do other stuff and check the temp; as it comes down and matches your body temp, it's perfect.
- shawnz 8y agoYou shouldn't be using water from the hot tap even just for drinking or cooking, let alone putting in a neti pot. Water from a hot water tank can contain high levels of dissolved contaminants since it sits in your plumbing system for extended periods at high temperatures.
- scythe 8y agoNo cooking? Even, say, boiling potatoes? I always use filtered water if I'm planning to consume it, but I thought I could get away with the sink if I was throwing it out. That's news to me, I'll have to boil cold water from now on.
- harshreality 8y agoI wouldn't worry as much about boiled potatoes as I would something like soaking/cooking grains. It's a matter of your level of concern. I rinse dry goods and and vegetables with tap water, and steam with tap water, but I use expensive water for anything else. Mostly because I don't discard the water. Either the food absorbs all the water, or I accept a mushy, stewy, or soupy consistency. Steaming is better if you're going to use tap water and discard it. With the food out of the water there's less contamination as well as less nutrient loss. Filters are not perfect. Reverse osmosis or distillation is better (in theory). Anyone using a filter should pay attention to what it filters. Some filters don't even claim to filter lead. I think Brita and Pur still have multiple filter types that filter different things, and one type isn't a strict subset of the other.
- fnordfnordfnord 8y agoNaegleria Fowleri were found in public water systems in Louisiana last year. I don't know of anyone dying because of it though. https://www.ajc.com/news/national/brain-eating-amoeba-found-two-louisiana-drinking-water-systems/SU2ziRHbgVs8QEfduue03I/ https://www.ajc.com/news/national/brain-eating-amoeba-found-...
- ryanmercer 8y ago>They do, but I am never sure how that is supposed to be practical. You need to use warm water, which is easy with tap water, Uh, 30-45 seconds in the microwave in a microwave-safe container. I have a motorized unit, distilled water goes into a glass in the microwave for 45 seconds. Salt packet goes into the reservoir and a maybe 5 ounces of room temp distilled then the microwaved water.
- girzel 8y agoWe've got a neti-pot-like thing that comes with a built-in filter. I don't worry about it past that.
- jimmyswimmy 8y agoIn the case of Neil-Med, the documentation I have retained says to use previously boiled or properly filtered water (they provide some examples) when mixing. And they say not to use tap water. But they don't inform the user of the potential hazard of using otherwise safe-to-consume tap water. Worse, the bottle (mine is a squeeze bottle) doesn't have any reminder not to use tap water, at all. It would seem this would be worth a large placard on the back of the bottle. The likelihood is low but the danger high; this is the worst kind of risk because it doesn't happen often enough to serve as a reminder.
- chaostheory 8y agoDoesn't this company direct you to use their salt packets as well?
- dplgk 8y agoDoes the salt kill amoebas?
- smiley1437 8y agoUsing a normal saline solution of 0.9% NaCl is much more comfortable, doesn't sting the sinus membranes at all. I wouldn't count on it to kill anything
- jessaustin 8y agoIf the amoebas thrive inside the body, they certainly won't be harmed by a saline solution.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- solatic 8y ago> But they don't inform the user of the potential hazard of using otherwise safe-to-consume tap water. Devil's advocate: if they did, odds are consumers would consider it as if the company is peddling conspiracy theories rather than actual science. Or "maybe it's true for tap water where the pots are made, but I trust my tap water and I know it's safe". If such explanations are more likely to harm a company's perception than to protect consumers, then what value do they have?
- DougN7 8y agoHow is a neti pot worse than steam in the shower? I’m surprised at this.
- tomhoward 8y agoBy definition, steam has been heated to a high temperature and exists as stray molecules before condensing back to water droplets. I guess microbes can't easily survive or be carried along in this process. That said, it seems it's possible that this kind of thing can happen [1], but it's rare (and though that article is confusingly written, it seems that the bacteria in that case came from the air, after the steam had re-formed as water droplets). Anyway, the OP says this amoeba in a neti-pot scenario is rare too, so it seems we're always talking about fringe cases with this kind of stuff. [1] http://www.cleveland19.com/story/33829012/doctors-warn-about-lung-illness-attributed-to-bacteria-in-showers-and-hot-baths/ http://www.cleveland19.com/story/33829012/doctors-warn-about...
- burtonator 8y agoHow's this for a disclaimer: "There's almost no potential upside and a massive potential downside."
- dzhiurgis 8y agoRTFM... When is the last time you’ve actually did it? It’s a problem with user not understanding its own anatomy rather than product itself.
- bonestamp2 8y agoNot to mention, hot water tanks are a prime facility for some of these pests to grow while most people have no idea they should avoid their home hot water for anything other than washing. It should not be consumed in any way... this is why coffee makers specifically tell you to use cold water.
- arvinjoar 8y agoPretty sure that is because of metals. Living things die when boiling anyway
- novia 8y agoThe temperature of a typical hot water tank is 120-140 degrees Fahrenheit, which is significantly less than the boiling point of water, 212 degrees Fahrenheit. If the water tank temperature is just a little lower, at 115 degrees, it's the prime temperature for these buggers. Also, this might be a fun read for you: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermophile https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermophile
- bonestamp2 8y agoHot water tanks aren't hot enough to sterilize. In fact, they're a perfect temperature to grow many things.
- sitkack 8y agoLead dissolving in hot water is the primary reason that one should not consume hot tap water. Nor should one wash their hands with hot water after lead exposure. Some gun ranges go so far as to remove the hot water tap from the bathrooms.
- onetimemanytime 8y agowhat's the difference from washing your face? Doesn't some water go inside the nose /sinuses when you blow it, breathe as you wash? (I guess even 1mm3 would contain plenty of microbes.)
- louwrentius 8y agoSince these types of incidents are so rare I would not suddenly be afraid of using such a device. I also wonder if she applied salt to the water (you should use saline) which also may help keep this stuff away if the concentration is right. But I don't know about that.
- pacificmint 8y agoIf you don’t use saline solution, it becomes very uncomfortable. Even accidentally using the wrong concentration is immediately noticeable. I’d highly doubt many people would do that regularly.
- deepGem 8y agoWhen I used neti pot long long ago, our instructor made it explicit that you should only use boiled and cooled lukewarm water mixed with salt, if you cannot find a readily available saline solution. She even gave the salt:water ratio which I've forgotten. The general consensus in the yoga community is to better be safe than sorry.
- code_duck 8y agoI wash my nose in such a way frequently because I have an extreme sensitivity to airborne chemicals and fragrances. It’s so uncomfortable to be doused with air freshener, diesel exhaust, cleaner fumes, laundry fragrance, plastic odor or perfume that I rinse my nose out with whatever water is available, which includes taps and drinking fountains. I’ve worried about such an illness happening to me, evidently with good reason.
- stevehawk 8y agoYea, you need to stop that. Start carrying distilled water with you.
- cortesoft 8y agoHow do you warm it?
- ern 8y agoIn my experience using saline nasal flushes, having the water at room temperature hasn't really bothered me, as long as I've added the salt.
- cortesoft 8y agoSomeone else responded to my question saying the same thing. I tried using distilled water at room temperature (with the salt) and it REALLY hurt my nose. Feels great when the water is luke-warm. Maybe I am the only one.
- tempestn 8y agoI'm sure you're not. For me it's uncomfortable but bearable at room temperature. Much more comfortable after 12s or so in the microwave.
- striking 8y agoCould try microwaving it or using a chemical reaction to heat it, like an MRE meal.
- chipperyman573 8y agoI had surgery on my sinuses and and have to do this as well. The product I use (Neilmed sinus rinse) has warnings ALL OVER the box, bottle, and in the instruction pamphlet to only use previously boiled water, distilled water, freshly opened bottled water, or water that has somehow otherwise been filtered. It specifically says NOT to use tap water. They also have a website (that has recently been updated to mention this news article, but otherwise has the same information as it had over a year ago when I last checked) telling you not to use tap water: http://www.neilmed.com/usa/np_water_quality.php http://www.neilmed.com/usa/np_water_quality.php Usually I would say that it's unreasonable to expect consumers to read the fine print, but this is a medical product, so at a minimum I would expect everyone using it to read the instruction pamphlet included in the box. It's not just "put water in bottle, squeeze bottle" either, so if you don't read the instructions you'll be very uncomfortable to the point of probably not using it any more (you have to heat the water to a specific temperature and mix in the included salt packets, and the instructions also tell you how to clean the bottle). I'm sorry for this woman's family, but this is really darwinism (edit: not actually darwinism. I was using that as a figure of speech) at work. It's not even expensive to use distilled water, I get a gallon from walmart for less than a dollar and it lasts me multiple weeks (and I use it twice a day).
- neuronexmachina 8y agoFrom the article, what's somewhat surprising to me is that she actually used a store-bought water filter: > In the case of the Seattle woman, she likely became infected with the amoebas from her tap water, according to the researchers. Rather than filling her neti pot with saline or sterile water, she used tap water filtered through a store-bought water filter.
- chipperyman573 8y agoYou have to use a 0.2 micron filter, it's possible she was using a filter that wasn't small enough. For reference, most water filter pitchers (britta etc) are 1 micron
- 2bitencryption 8y ago
- aldoushuxley001 8y agoRough.
- rv-de 8y agoI think this is one of the most on spot and reasonable comments in this thread. The rest is writing about how worried they are or convincing others how unlikely it is. Some folks here down vote faster than they can think it seems.
- ams6110 8y agoPerson dies under unusual, rare circumstances. Happens every day, there are nearly 8 billion of us. Why is this news?
- butterfi 8y agoIt news because more and more people are starting to rinse their sinuses and may not be aware that they should be following certain guidelines.
- randyrand 8y agoI wish all articles like this had stats. But stats can be hard to create :(
- glassesman 8y agoNeti pots and nasal rinse methods in general have become fairly popular. If reporting on this could save other people from becoming victims, it's worth covering.
- jacquesm 8y agoSounds like the easiest way to avoid becoming a victim is not to use the product.
- tempestn 8y agoYes, except then you would be forgoing the benefits, which are significant for situations like sinus infections or colds. Instead, you could simply avoid using it with untreated well water.
- athenot 8y agoIf an article is about a "Brain-eating" danger, it captivates a host of emotional responses, mainly as a result of works of fiction. It's even more powerful if it's from something we can't see with the naked eye. From a health perspective, it's also a way to remind ourselves that there are simple precautions to prevent that. We learn from others' mistakes.
- happycube 8y agoOuch. I've taken to using the Arm&Hammer spray cans, even though they're quite a bit more expensive.
- dhimes 8y agoI'm a little confused. Was the tap-water untreated (that is, well water)? Can these damn things survive chlorination? They're a known danger swimming in southern (US)- meaning warm- fresh-water lakes and ponds. But- damn, this is scary. Probably because I also use a neti-pot. Neti-pots are often used to help alleviate the symptoms of sinusitis. My neti-pot came with packets of salts that you dissolve in the water, which I use. But I didn't think that was required to kill stuff in treated water. I thought it was to reduce irritation when using it- and maybe help kill the bacteria you are trying to rinse away.
- cowpewter 8y agoThe salts are to reduce irritation. Plain water is extremely uncomfortable in your sinuses, but saline is fine. As far as I know they do nothing to reduce contaminants in your water or harm bacteria.
- ergothus 8y agoAnd yet the article mentions distilled OR saline, which definitely raises the question. If I wake up feeling like crap, it is far easier to use a salt packet than to go to the store for distilled water. The article implies that is fine (but the article may be misleading)
- jimktrains2 8y agoPerhaps they meant premixed , sterile saline solutions ?
- BjoernKW 8y agoYes, the salt mainly is meant to reduce irritation. Amoeba aren't bacteria, though. Both, however should be adversely affected by saline solutions because osmosis will draw water out of the cells, effectively killing these organisms. Salt can be as effective a disinfectant as chlorine if dissolved in water. There are public swimming pools that make use of this because chlorine can have adverse effects on your health, such as causing irritation on both the skin and the respiratory system.
- 2bitencryption 8y agoI use a product like this, and I'm paranoid enough to buy distilled water, boil it, and then add a saline mixture before doing the deed.
- sctb 8y agoHere's the paper: https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(18)34525-9/pdf https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(18)34525-9/pdf.
- michaelbuckbee 8y agoI still don't quite understand how tap water in a neti-pot is significantly more dangerous than swimming in local lakes, swimming pool or the ocean. Certainly, you get water in your sinuses from that, right?
- hokumguru 8y agoLake swimming is the primary way people are infected with brain-eating amoeba. It is a fresh-water amoeba that is killed by chlorine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri
- wozer 8y agoCan this happen to anybody, or only to people with a weakened immune system?
- astrange 8y agoInfection is universally fatal even with treatment, and your immune system actually makes it worse. https://www.iflscience.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba-kicks-fatal-immune-response/ https://www.iflscience.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba-kicks-f...
- dx87 8y agoThe swimming pool is at least chlorinated, but AFAIK, it can happen in any fresh water. https://www.kolotv.com/content/news/Child-dies-from-brain-eating-amoeba-contracted-near-Bishop-Calif-500191082.html https://www.kolotv.com/content/news/Child-dies-from-brain-ea...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- athenot 8y agoWhen you swim in lakes & rivers, you typically don't get water way up your sinuses. Maybe a bit in the nose but not far back. So the odds are lower. Not impossible as there have been case of triathletes dying from the same thing after a lake race, but definitely lower odds. As for the ocean, its salinity prevents that kind of amœba from even being present.
- angry_octet 8y agoI'm stunned at how many people are commenting that they will continue using untreated water. You can end up having your brain eaten and die, I can't think of a PSA any more convincing.
- asynchronous13 8y agoThere's been ~100 cases in 40 years. That's less than 3 people per year, so it's very rare. There's about 10 shark attacks per year in the U.S. Now that you know that, will you stay out of the ocean forever? Or will you maybe take the risk and go for a dip if you go on a beach vacation? edit Plus, of those 40 cases the vast majority are from swimming in lakes. So there's only a handful of cases where the infection was due to neti-pot usage. I could only find 3 confirmed cases. That's extremely rare.
- SquareWheel 8y ago>Now that you know that, will you stay out of the ocean forever? No but I might avoid areas known to host sharks.
- louwrentius 8y agoThis is exactly the point. It's just a curiosity, nothing more. There's no reason to believe that you should change your behaviour in any way. Crossing the street once is more dangerous.
- angry_octet 8y agoAnd yet, how little effort is it to use saline or boiled water? Boil the kettle, leave to cool. Warm water is more comfortable anyway.
- angry_octet 8y agoAlso, it might be incredibly rare because most people follow the instructions, and/or the people who follow instructions poorly live in areas with highly treated water (essentially the entire urban population). In warmer rural areas, using rainwater or borewater, it is likely to have significant growth of Naegleria fowleri. Children are particularly susceptible. https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Amoebic-meningitis https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Amoebic-meningitis https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/pathogen.html https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/pathogen.html https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-20/professor-encouraging-rural-communities-to-treat-their-water/9567366 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-20/professor-encouraging... There is a similar problem where cleaning contact lenses with untreated water leaks to Acanthamoeba infection, leading to possible blindness of loss of an eye.
- BjoernKW 8y agoDistilled water certainly is the safest way but tap water mixed with salt in countries where it's safe to drink tap water in most cases should cause no harm either. Salt works as a disinfectant when dissolved in water. When rinsing your sinuses you'll want to use saline water anyway because fresh water will hurt the mucous membranes in your nose.
- gilgoomesh 8y agoThat's bad advice. Common saline solutions are around 9g/L and won't kill most protozoa. http://www1.nencki.gov.pl/pdf/ap/ap574.pdf http://www1.nencki.gov.pl/pdf/ap/ap574.pdf Even at seawater-like concentrations of over 30g/L, it can take over 72 hours to sterilize water containing fresh-water protozoa. Boiling is the only practical way to sterilize water.
- Tharkun 8y agoI don't get the scare mongering in this discussion. People are saying to always boil the water, to not cook with hot tap water, etc. Don't these people bathe in hot tap water? Don't they drink cold tap water? Do they all live in areas with super unsafe tap water? Or is there a specific danger that comes from the water going up your nostrils? (Which can easily happen while bathing) What am I missing here?
- legohead 8y ago109 cases in a little over 40 years.. yeah, this is more of a freak occurrence. also, the article says they never tested the water, so this idea of the neti pot is just a guess to begin with.
- 8bitsrule 8y agoThere must have been something else involved. Should we not swim in pools, rivers or lakes, or submerge ourselves in hot tubs? Netis are part of Ayurvedic medicine in India since long before people dreamed of personal immortality. Remember when people worked outside all summer without worrying about excess UV? Maybe we're overthinking this stuff, we Chicken Little emulators.
- copperx 8y agoSpending a large part of the day under direct sunlight (e.g., working in a farm), is known to paradoxically reduce the risk of skin cancer; whereas occasional exposure (e.g., working at a desk job and then sunbathing in Cancun) greatly increases the risk. Perhaps we're not overthinking it. Maybe there are complex processes that we don't yet understand.
- User23 8y agoThis phenomenon has been well known for almost all of history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridatism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridatism https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK349158/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK349158/
- hughdbrown 8y agoSo, these medical people did not consult House? https://house.fandom.com/wiki/Henry_(patient) https://house.fandom.com/wiki/Henry_(patient)
- prewett 8y agoI wonder if it’s things like this that make people feel like their tap water isn’t safe and then they buy bottled water or “natural” or “raw” water, instead of understanding that tap water is pretty safe. By historical standards we have superior water, compared to most of history.
- User23 8y agoHow hard would it be to design a microwave water still? I steam things in my microwave all the time. It's not really my area of expertise, but I imagine it wouldn't be super difficult to design a glass (or similar) vessel that would collect condensate after the microwave shuts off.
- sjg007 8y agoThis happens every ten years.
- rv-de 8y agoAnd millions of people every day suck in tap water through their noses to clean them - and still this infection happens virtually never. But it seems that even the rational and sophisticated HN crowd isn't immune to overresponding towards news that is basically just gross on a visual level while completely irrelevant from a statistical perspective. Having said that I once while tripping immersed my head in water and got some of it quite far up my head through the nose. That water was in a warm, lenitic and rather dirty pond - the optimal breeding conditions for this terrible little creature. I was worried for at least a week about having my brain eaten :D But that was in middle Germany and it seems these amoebas don't really like it here so much.
- PaulAJ 8y agoA more common problem is eye infection. This is an issue for contact lens wearers, and amoebas can also get in your eyes when you go swimming. https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/acanthamoeba-keratitis.htm https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/acanthamoeba-keratit...
- roryisok 8y agoWell great, I just did this last night. Goodbye HN.
- mch82 8y agoFDA: “Is Rinsing Your Sinuses With Neti Pots Safe?” https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm316375.htm https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm316375.h... Highlights: * “...usually safe and effective products when used and cleaned properly” * “Tap water isn’t safe for use as a nasal rinse because it’s not adequately filtered or treated.” * Neti Pots are FDA regulated medical devices
- sargun 8y agoDoes UV-C irradiation work to kill these little buggers?
- ianai 8y agoI’m seriously shocked by how much push back rational thought is getting in this thread.
- balls187 8y agoDon't swim with contacts either.
- Dowwie 8y agoIt's not clear after reading this article the source of the victim's tap water. Was it from a well? I suspect the tap wasn't using filtered, and possibly chemically treated water.