'Brain-Eating Amoeba' Deaths May Be Linked To Tap Water Use In Neti Pots, Louisiana Officials Warn

At least two people are dead in Louisiana after officials believe "brain-eating amoebas" entered the victims' sinuses through tap water used to fill neti pots.

The 2011 deaths of a 51-year-old woman and 20-year-old man are still under investigation, but now officials are telling neti pot users to heed caution when using the popular devices, KTLA reports.

"If you are irrigating, flushing, or rinsing your sinuses, for example, by using a neti pot, use distilled, sterile or previously boiled water to make up the irrigation solution," Louisiana State Epidemiologist Dr. Raoult Ratard said in a statement.

The amoeba, formally known as Naegleria fowleri, destroys brain tissue and kills victims in about one to 12 days, according to a statement by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Symptoms include fever, nausea, confusion and loss of balance and are comparable to those of bacterial meningitis.

The amoeba is usually found in freshwater lakes, rivers and ponds and does not normally survive the water-treatment process, Live Science reports. It must enter the body through the nasal cavity; it cannot be ingested through drinking water.

While it's uncommon for tap water to contain the deadly amoeba, it may house harmful bacteria, such as e-coli, ABC 4 News reports.

Cases of Naegleria fowleri infections are uncommon.

"In the 10 years from 2001 to 2010, 32 infections were reported in the U.S.," according to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. "Of those cases, 30 people were infected by contaminated recreational water and two people were infected by water from a geothermal drinking water supply."

Neti pots are considered safe as long as people take the proper precautions before using them, Dr. Saurabh Shah, an ear nose and throat specialist, told ABC 4 News.

Correction: A previous version of this article contained a sentence that incorrectly referred to Naegleria fowleri as a bacteria. Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba.

Comments

[VineyardGirl]

01:49 PM on 01/06/2012

Educate yourselves!! Here's a recent blog from a small neti pot company. Neti pots are safe! http://www.sinussupport.com/new-year-old-common-sense-reminders/

[Bill Henske]

05:10 PM on 12/24/2011

This brain eating disease story brought to you by Dasani!

[edolczyk]

02:57 AM on 12/24/2011

Wow, this article has become very entertaining. Judging from the fears inherent from the postings, I'm wondering if this is the 2000s or the 1000s.

[edolczyk]

02:11 AM on 12/24/2011

This is kind of a dichotomy. Tap water contains chlorine which kills bacteria. Also, the use of the neti pot necessitates the utlilization of salt which will kill the bacteria as well. And there were only two deaths cited. I've used mine since 2004, and have had hundreds of beneficial nasal cleansings. It was one of the best things I've ever purchased. When I've had a nasty cold, just washing the sinus out feels tremendous. Makes the moment feel so much better and it eliminates contaminated mucus.

[hypyrwyf]

02:51 PM on 12/20/2011

Properly used, Neti pots are good for you. Brain eating amoebas are not.

[MarsAmbassador]

06:51 PM on 12/19/2011

Neti pots are safe. The danger comes from using water in places with Republican policies such as cutting funding to things like water treatment. THERE'S your source of danger.

[jgw845]

01:38 AM on 12/21/2011

Sigh! It is soooooooo tedious, and I will add, trite, to see everything wrongfully correlated to something political.

[Bill Henske]

04:03 PM on 12/22/2011

How is this tedious? There should not be amoebas in your municipal water, and Republicans dont favor clean water legislation, environmental regulation and public services. How is that wrongful?

[edolczyk]

02:12 AM on 12/24/2011

Yep. Trite's the word. Can't escape the politicization of any comments that appear on this forum.

[Dee Amschler]

03:27 AM on 12/21/2011

The problem in this case were people who didn't follow directions. The water you use in a neti pot, no matter how well the source is cleaned etc. is SUPPOSED to be boiled and then cooled to a tolerable temp before use. The amoeba dies at a relatively low temp, which means these people almost had to be using water straight out of their tap (and likely cold or mostly cold water).

The only exception to the boiling rule is when the water is from a sterile source (like straight out of a freshly opened bottle of sterilized water) or if it's distilled water and even so it should be heated for your comfort. A short time in the microwave will do.

[edolczyk]

02:18 AM on 12/24/2011

Mine didn't come with instructions to boil the water. Of course, one can safely assume that the salt content will kill any amoeba that are present in the water.

[EllynK]

05:32 PM on 12/19/2011

Wow, how coincidental – The risks & benefits of neti pots is actually the topic of today's video-of-the-day over at NutritionFacts.org, one of my favorite science-based websites on nutrition and health. Dr. Greger records and schedules those videos weeks in advance, so it's very coincidental timing with this news story is pretty remarkable.

[jmsramsey]

04:57 PM on 12/19/2011

I have used Neti-Pot for years and it has helped my sinuses immensely. If you just follow the directions and use distilled or previous boiled water and clean it after each us, you will have no problem. I am sure lawsuits will follow these deaths.

[Lisa LaMagna]

04:44 PM on 12/19/2011

Dr. Marc Halpern, expert in ayurveda, weighs in on today's news of neti pot deaths linked to contaminated water.

Here is a link.

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-neti-pots-100-safe-says-expert-in-ayurveda-1324327183.html"

[clownprince]

04:41 PM on 12/19/2011

I saw the pic of a Neti Pot on the link to this story and thought that it was a sex toy.

[Brent Casey]

05:08 PM on 12/19/2011

Hey, who says it isn't?

[StephenJK]

08:47 AM on 12/20/2011

I'm a little tea pot short and aroused....

[Lisa LaMagna]

04:40 PM on 12/19/2011

Neti pots are 100% safe. Here's a more balanced view, as an expert in Ayurveda weighs in on the topic Dr. Marc Halpern discusses today's Neti Pot news

[Genders]

04:18 PM on 12/19/2011

Wow, what a confused article.

Here is a very good article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri

This is extremely rare. Nearly all 130 cases or so, in 70 years in the USA, have come from recreational use of fresh water. 2 of them came from water sourced from geothermal sites. Hot water is where the danger is. But lots of lakes get plenty hot to it to become infectious. In cold water it is dormant and destroyed in the gut. You might want to read the article if you like to sport in warm lakes, but it's really rare. I guess those nose clips serve a function. I haven't read where salt water, like you are supposed to use in nose irrigation , will kill it.

Distilled water may not be the right answer.
" Naegleria, in contrast to other amoebae, differentiates within two hours into the flagellar state. Pathogenicity can be further confirmed by exposure to high temperature (42°C): Naegleria fowleri is able to grow at this temperature, but the non-pathogenic Naegleria gruberi is not."

This is a hardy germ, with a 99% fatality rate. There is a serious danger in your tap water when you shower or sneeze while drinking water if it's got this bug in it. If this really came from the tap water, they have an water health emergency.

[Anda]

03:22 PM on 12/19/2011

May be that is what happen the arthur of this article. Nedi pot are used with salt water/ Salt Water destroy most, if not all virus.

[Brent Casey]

05:09 PM on 12/19/2011

o_0

...er, you haven't been using tap water in your "Nedi" pot within the past couple of weeks, have you?

[Gadgetman]

03:13 PM on 12/19/2011

Neti pots are WAY better for you and way safer for you than anything the drug companies sell. Just use good water.

[BonTempsGOM]

02:39 PM on 12/19/2011

I'm confused. If the parasite enters through the nasal cavity, why haven't water skiers been stricken with this? They take water up the nose all the time after a splash.