Family and friends can swear by them; trusted companies make them; they’re sold on television these days and they are prominently displayed near the over-the-counter cold products in your local grocery or superstore. Neti Pots. They look so cute and innocent, too, don’t they?
Except Neti Pots are killing people. Another product being sold in American marketplace that is so dangerous that lives are being lost.
This week, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals issued a public warning regarding the use of neti pots to clear out sinus congestion after the state agency confirmed two deaths after using a neti pot. From the Lousiana release:
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is warning residents about the dangers of the improper use of neti pots. The warning follows the state’s second death this year caused by Naegleria fowleri, the so-called brain-eating ameba. A 51-year-old DeSoto Parish woman died recently after using tap water in a neti pot to irrigate her sinuses and becoming infected with the deadly ameba. In June, a 20-year-old St. Bernard Parish man died under the same circumstances. Naegleria fowleri infects people by entering the body through the nose. A neti pot is commonly used to irrigate sinuses, and looks like a genie’s lamp.
“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,” said Louisiana State Epidemiologist, Dr. Raoult Ratard. “Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose.” It’s also important to rinse the irrigation device after each use and leave open to air dry.
Naegleria fowleri infection typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater lakes and rivers. In very rare instances, Naegleria fowleri infections may also occur when contaminated water from other sources (such as inadequately chlorinated swimming pool water or heated tap water less than 116.6 degrees Fahrenheit) enters the nose when people submerge their heads or when people irrigate their sinuses with devices such as a neti pot. You cannot be infected with Naegleria fowleri by drinking water.
Naegleria fowleri causes the disease primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a brain infection that leads to the destruction of brain tissue. In its early stages, symptoms of PAM may be similar to symptoms of bacterial meningitis.
Initial symptoms of PAM start one to seven days after infection. The initial symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and stiff neck. Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations. After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within one to 12 days.
Naegleria fowleri infections are very rare. In the 10 years from 2001 to 2010, 32 infections were reported in the U.S. 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 Kill People By Allowing Brain-Eating Bacteria to Access Your Brain Through Your Sinus Cavity
You use a neti pot by filling it with water and then flushing that water through your nose and sinus cavity. It’s been used by people all over the world for years.
However, that doesn’t mean that it’s safe for you to use. If someone uses a neti pot without taking proper precautions, they can flush dangerous germs and bacteria — brain-eating amoeba — into their bodies which can kill them.
In Louisiana, two people have died from using tap water in a Neti Pot. The tap water may have looked clean enough, and sure they could have swallowed it safely, but flushing it into their nasal cavity was a different story. No stomach acids there to kill things off. Nope.
In the sinus cavity, there is an ability for chemicals to quickly access the brain. (That’s why those drug users like to snort things.) When the tap water with its bacteria was sniffed into the sinus, it carried the evildoing bacteria with it.
Evildoing bacteria like Naegleria fowleri, which is the bacteria that killed both the Louisiana Neti Pot victims. It literally eats brain tissue. It’s difficult to treat once there’s an infection, and people almost always die from it. Horrible to think about, isn’t it?
