Tap Water in Neti Pots Behind 2 Brain-Eating Amoeba Deaths in 2011, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Reveals

Two people in Louisiana died last year from a rare brain infection contracted after using neti pots containing tap water to flush their sinuses. The infection, known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis, occurs after water containing the amoeba Naegleria fowleri enters the nose and travels through the olfactory nerve into the brain. This is the first time tap water and neti pots have been connected to infection with N. fowleri, according to a report appearing online Aug. 23 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

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