Swiped from the Health group--a scary article about Neti pot deaths.

[BlueIris]

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/flu/neti-pot-deaths-linked-brain-eating-amoeba-tap-water

[Lucinda]

1. Is it odd that they didn't link to any source articles?

I don't usually read Yahoo health and I don't know what the standard is....

[Why Syzygy]

2. It's the water

http://www.naturalnews.com/034434_neti_pot_sinuses_amoeba.html

Neti pot scare story proves that brain-eating amoeba lurk in public water supplies

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034434_neti_pot_sinuses_amoeba.html#ixzz1hQNdfy4S


The Health Group watchdogs will attack anything from Natural News. I have no idea what the new standard might be. Maybe I'll try it. I have most of the controversial ones on jury blacklist.

Or feel free to offer it yourself. After a two day high, my mood has turned to foul.

[Celebration]

3. I think I would use distilled water

in a neti pot.

[Missy Vixen]

4. The pulmonologist told me at a recent visit

to use nothing but distilled or post-boiled water in the CPAP I use.

The neti pot went into the garbage as well...

[Saokymo]

5. The issue here isn't so much that the critter is in the water

The microbe in question is not uncommon in areas with warm bodies of water; cases of it have been reported world wide. It only causes infection through the nasal passages, so usually people catch it from swimming in natural bodies of fresh water during the warmer months. The two cases in Louisiana from this year are unique in that they contracted the infection by irrigating their sinuses with untreated tap water.

So really, the article is a good bit of common sense -- if you're going to use a neti pot, use distilled or pre-boiled water to make sure it's perfectly clean -- hyped up with a huge dose of fear stemming from two very unfortunate cases.

[MH1]

6. I guess a Brita faucet filter isn't good enough?

I'll go out and get some distilled water then. Not giving up the neti.

It would have been nice if the article had explicitly said that faucet filters are or are not good enough. But I'm pretty sure the packaging in my Brita filter says it doesn't stop all bacteria.

[Celebration]

7. distilled water is cheap, at least

Still, I am somewhat surprised they found this stuff in municipal water. It doesn't seem like it should be there, but what do I know?

I doubt if this is much of an issue in most water supplies, but better safe than sorry!

[Saokymo]

8. The brita filter will remove particle matter from the water

Things like heavy metals and algae, but microbes like the brain-eater here are too small to get filtered out.

It's a poorly written article, not meant to inform people much past "EBUL MICROBES IN UR WATER PANIC PANIC."