HEALTH
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a new report that highlights a potential danger of nasal rinsing with tap water: amoeba infections of the skin, eyes, lungs or brain. In the report, the agency detailed cases of ten US patients who were infected with a type of amoeba called
Acanthamoeba between 1994 and 2022. Nine of the cases occurred in the past decade. All of the patients had rinsed out their nasal passages before falling ill. They did so for various reasons, including to relieve symptoms of chronic sinusitis. The patients experienced a range of health complications as a result of their amoeba infections. Six people developed skin diseases and six experienced a rare nervous system infection called granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) that affects the brain and spinal cord.
All of the infected patients had weakened immune systems, most commonly because they had cancer and were undergoing treatment. Of the five people who reported what kind of water they had used for nasal rinsing, four said they used tap water and one said they’d used sterile water but submerged their device in tap water. Tap water typically contains small amounts of microbes that are usually killed by the acid in the stomach. However, these microorganisms can survive in the nose and cause infections if they end up in there.
GAE starts with symptoms of confusion, headaches and seizures. Acanthamoeba are found worldwide and live in both soil and bodies of water, including
