{"id":612,"date":"2024-03-14T11:55:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T11:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/14\/dont-use-unsterilized-tap-water-to-rinse-your-sinuses-it-may-carry-brain-eating-amoebas\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T11:55:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T11:55:06","slug":"dont-use-unsterilized-tap-water-to-rinse-your-sinuses-it-may-carry-brain-eating-amoebas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/14\/dont-use-unsterilized-tap-water-to-rinse-your-sinuses-it-may-carry-brain-eating-amoebas\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t use unsterilized tap water to rinse your sinuses. It may carry brain-eating amoebas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nasal rinses can relieve sinus congestion. But using the wrong liquid can, in rare cases, give people infections with deadly brain-eating amoebas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washing the sinuses with unsterilized tap water can expose people to Acanthamoeba<\/em> and Naegleria fowleri, <\/em>amoebas commonly found in lakes, rivers and other bodies of water, but which can also live in tap water. The single-celled organisms can cause skin diseases, eye or lung infections and fatal brain infections<\/a> (SN: 7\/20\/15<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That practice is the likely source of rare\u00a0Acanthamoeba infections in 10 people<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in the United States, most of which occurred in the past decade, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report March 13 in Emerging Infectious Diseases<\/em>. Three died. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n