Man dies brain-eating amoeba Don't rinse your nostrils out with tap water Charlotte County Florida

Don't rinse your nostrils out with tap water in Charlotte County Florida, and isn't it kind of weird that it doesn't seem to be a problem if your drink the tap water? DIdn't this happen in South Carolina recently too

Health officials in Florida are investigating the death of a man infected with Naegleria fowleri, or brain-eating amoeba.


Naegleria is a single-celled living organism so small it can be seen only with a microscope. Commonly found in lakes, rivers, hot springs and soil. Only one species of Naegleria, Naegleria fowleri, infects people, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The man’s identity hasn’t been made public yet, but officials say they believe he was using tap water to rinse his sinuses. Although it’s rare to be infected with Naegleria, it can happen when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. Drinking tap water cannot cause the infection, the Charlotte County Department of Health stated in a news release.

With allergy season arriving early, you might be tempted to find relief with a sinus rinse. If so, health officials say, use only distilled or sterile water. You can use tap water if you boil it for at least a minute and let it cool before sinus rinsing. They also advise:

Residents in Charlotte County should follow the instructions below:

Do not allow water to go up your nose when bathing, showering, washing your face or swimming in a plastic or blow-up pool.
Do not jump into or put your head under the bath water.
Do not allow children to play unsupervised with hoses or sprinklers.
Keep plastic or blow-up pools clean and disinfected between each use.

Must be chlorine resistant. Sad they have too actually tell people to let the water cool down before using it.

Sounds like the ameba might starve to death anyway if it eats brains.

a reply to: putnam6

I'm pretty sure this affected him because of the location. The amoeba had a direct path to his brain with little to no protection from the immune system, whereas if it was ingested I'm sure the bacteria in the digestive system would've killed it.

a reply to: Athetos

Here's the thing IIRC the South Carolina incident made it seem like it was because it came from a garden hose because it has stagnated in the hose, that's much different than the amoeba potentially circulating in your pipes, where you need to be concerned about washing your face. I'd imagine along with your nostrils your eyes and ears both could be entrances where it's close enough to potentially get to your brain.

Given how many millions of people use neti pots with just tap water, I think it is safe to say this was a freak accident....

The sinuses are sensitive though. I have a CPAP and tap water can aggravate them if I don't use distilled water.

originally posted by: eXia7
I'm pretty sure this affected him because of the location. The amoeba had a direct path to his brain with little to no protection from the immune system, whereas if it was ingested I'm sure the bacteria in the digestive system would've killed it.

Obviously, once it gets in your stomach but you do realize, how close your sinuses drain into the same esophagus as your guzzle your water. Haven't you ever made somebody sneeze their milk out thier noses at lunch in school?

Here's what I gather if they have that warning there are likely amoebas in the water system, certainly they test for them.

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: eXia7
I'm pretty sure this affected him because of the location. The amoeba had a direct path to his brain with little to no protection from the immune system, whereas if it was ingested I'm sure the bacteria in the digestive system would've killed it.

Obviously, once it gets in your stomach but you do realize, how close your sinuses drain into the same esophagus as your guzzle your water. Haven't you ever made somebody sneeze their milk out thier noses at lunch in school?

Here's what I gather if they have that warning there are likely amoebas in the water system, certainly they test for them.

I actually live in FL, this kind of stuff happens a lot more often than discussed. I've seen numerous water notices for some ponds and even small lagoon/inlet beaches that sometimes post warnings about flesh eating bacteria. I mostly heed these warnings, but i've also been in some nasty swampy water as well and nothing happened.

I only bathe with municipal water, I try and not drink it if I can.. In my county the water smells and tastes very chlorinated.

I suppose its just the luck of the draw.

I say let it eat!

originally posted by: Edumakated
Given how many millions of people use neti pots with just tap water, I think it is safe to say this was a freak accident....

The sinuses are sensitive though. I have a CPAP and tap water can aggravate them if I don't use distilled water.

Where did I say suggest or infer anybody outside Charlotte Couty Florida needs to be concerned other than pointing out there was another brain-eating amoeba incidence perhaps in South Carolina?

About 180,000 people live in Charlotte County Fla though, and anecdotally I have family and friends that travel all over Florida including Punta Gorda (the Charlotte County seat)

My understanding is that Tampa Bay's water system is grossly outdated for a city the size of Tampa, and they have water issues all the time, even had a boil water notice recently.

but Im a little sensitive stayed in a relatively nice Tampa hotel one time and was taking a shower and sewage backed up into the shower drain. LOL soaked my feet in Listerine as it was all I immediately had

originally posted by: eXia7

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: eXia7
I'm pretty sure this affected him because of the location. The amoeba had a direct path to his brain with little to no protection from the immune system, whereas if it was ingested I'm sure the bacteria in the digestive system would've killed it.

Obviously, once it gets in your stomach but you do realize, how close your sinuses drain into the same esophagus as your guzzle your water. Haven't you ever made somebody sneeze their milk out thier noses at lunch in school?

Here's what I gather if they have that warning there are likely amoebas in the water system, certainly they test for them.

I actually live in FL, this kind of stuff happens a lot more often than discussed. I've seen numerous water notices for some ponds and even small lagoon/inlet beaches that sometimes post warnings about flesh eating bacteria. I mostly heed these warnings, but i've also been in some nasty swampy water as well and nothing happened.

I only bathe with municipal water, I try and not drink it if I can.. In my county the water smells and tastes very chlorinated.

I suppose its just the luck of the draw.

I hear of these cases at least once or twice a year. I generally don't swim in lake water any more. They always seem to give me ear infections. Swampy and stagnant water is home to all kinds of microbes and you definitely don't want to be ingesting it on purpose or by accident.

originally posted by: eXia7

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: eXia7
I'm pretty sure this affected him because of the location. The amoeba had a direct path to his brain with little to no protection from the immune system, whereas if it was ingested I'm sure the bacteria in the digestive system would've killed it.

Obviously, once it gets in your stomach but you do realize, how close your sinuses drain into the same esophagus as your guzzle your water. Haven't you ever made somebody sneeze their milk out thier noses at lunch in school?

Here's what I gather if they have that warning there are likely amoebas in the water system, certainly they test for them.

I actually live in FL, this kind of stuff happens a lot more often than discussed. I've seen numerous water notices for some ponds and even small lagoon/inlet beaches that sometimes post warnings about flesh eating bacteria. I mostly heed these warnings, but i've also been in some nasty swampy water as well and nothing happened.

I only bathe with municipal water, I try and not drink it if I can.. In my county the water smells and tastes very chlorinated.

I suppose its just the luck of the draw.

Yep, this is true we had the freshwater flesh-eating bacteria here in Georgia, where that one girl got infected in a river in Columbus Georgia, and wound up having to get some of her appendages amputated. Hundreds if not thousands got in that water, what made it the perfect storm where she got infected?

Speculation here on agricultural runoff where pesticides make some bacteria super strong and antibiotic-resistant

I do this as well... but gonna be second guessing myself now on this.

Usually, I will tap the the hottest water and mix it with the coldest water after having it run for a little while.
And also... if you gonna do this, boil the water and let it cool off in a clean container and always add salt!! 5g pr. 0.5 litre of water.

But man... nasty way to go

EDIT:

This reminded me of this story from Denmark:
Girl cuts herself on bottles by accident and almost dies

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: eXia7

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: eXia7
I'm pretty sure this affected him because of the location. The amoeba had a direct path to his brain with little to no protection from the immune system, whereas if it was ingested I'm sure the bacteria in the digestive system would've killed it.

Obviously, once it gets in your stomach but you do realize, how close your sinuses drain into the same esophagus as your guzzle your water. Haven't you ever made somebody sneeze their milk out thier noses at lunch in school?

Here's what I gather if they have that warning there are likely amoebas in the water system, certainly they test for them.

I actually live in FL, this kind of stuff happens a lot more often than discussed. I've seen numerous water notices for some ponds and even small lagoon/inlet beaches that sometimes post warnings about flesh eating bacteria. I mostly heed these warnings, but i've also been in some nasty swampy water as well and nothing happened.

I only bathe with municipal water, I try and not drink it if I can.. In my county the water smells and tastes very chlorinated.

I suppose its just the luck of the draw.

Yep, this is true we had the freshwater flesh-eating bacteria here in Georgia, where that one girl got infected in a river in Columbus Georgia, and wound up having to get some of her appendages amputated. Hundreds if not thousands got in that water, what made it the perfect storm where she got infected?

Speculation here on agricultural runoff where pesticides make some bacteria super strong and antibiotic-resistant

I can say a lot of our problem here locally is it has a large amount of marine traffic for local/tourists. Not to mention in the past one of the water treatment facilities had a sewage main break and all the run off went into the bay/gulf.

A lot of it can be contributed to runoff, stagnant water, pollution of any and all kinds.

'Although Naegleria fowleri may enter treatment plants from natural source waters, the amoeba is effectively removed through the filtration and disinfection steps of appropriate water treatment.'

It seem like this bacteria in the water should have been known about sooner; I wonder just how often municipal water supplies are tested and for what kinds of contaminants/bacteria.

I got super suspicious of water supplies after hearing about the NYC mayor(?) telling citizens to drink the tap water.

Just checked the stats on my 2 stage water filter and it most def filters out amoebas, and this thing wasn't that expensive.

[url=https://www.google.com/search?q=does+the+brain+have+nerve+receptors%3F&oq=does+the+brain+have+nerve+receptors%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l2j0i39 0l5.25065j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#:~:text=Though%20the%20brain%20has%20billions%20of%20neurons%20(cells%20that%20transmit%20sensory%20and%20othe r%20information)%2C%20it%20has%20no%20pain%20receptors.%20The%20ache%20from%20a%20headache%20comes%20from%20other%20nerves%20%E2%80%94%20inside%20bloo d%20vessels%20in%20your%20head%2C%20for%20example%20%E2%80%94%20telling%20your%20brain%20something%20is%20wrong.]https://www.google.com/search?q=does+ the+brain+have+nerve+receptors%3F&oq=does+the+brain+have+nerve+receptors]

originally posted by: putnam6
a reply to: Athetos

Here's the thing IIRC the South Carolina incident made it seem like it was because it came from a garden hose because it has stagnated in the hose, that's much different than the amoeba potentially circulating in your pipes, where you need to be concerned about washing your face. I'd imagine along with your nostrils your eyes and ears both could be entrances where it's close enough to potentially get to your brain.

that sounds like fun.

what are the symptoms?

the brain can't feel pain so you don't know if something is biting big chunks out of it.

www.google.com...

Though the brain has billions of neurons (cells that transmit sensory and other information), it has no pain receptors. The ache from a headache comes from other nerves — inside blood vessels in your head, for example — telling your brain something is wrong.

edit on 03/22/2022 by sarahvital because: (no reason given)

edit on 03/22/2022 by sarahvital because: clarity

Though the brain has billions of neurons (cells that transmit sensory and other information), it has no pain receptors. The ache from a headache comes from other nerves — inside blood vessels in your head, for example — telling your brain something is wrong.

lol,

those edits didn't solve anything.

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