Woman dies after using nasal wash to treat sinusitis

A 69-year-old woman in Seattle, USA, went to her doctor with a severe sinus infection. Doctors there prescribed sterile water and a special neti pot to clean her nasal cavity every day. But she missed one important step in the doctor's instructions: using sterile water properly.

Bottled or boiled water is usually considered sterile, but this woman, out of laziness and subjectivity, replaced it with filtered water to clean her nose without knowing that the water filter is not enough to prevent the invasion of harmful bacteria.

Unusual rashes appeared on the bridge of the female patient's nose.

A month after using the neti pot and filtered tap water, a red, scaly rash began to appear on her nose along the bridge of her nose. The woman went to a dermatologist and was diagnosed with a complicated infection.

Another time, she went to a hospital in Seattle and suddenly had a seizure, losing consciousness after being fully conscious. Realizing something was wrong, the doctors there conducted a CT scan. The image of her brain seen on the film had become soft and bloody.

A case consultation followed. She had a history of breast cancer, so the doctors’ first guess was that the tumor had metastasized to the brain. However, this was not the real cause of the brain softening.

The woman was then treated with anti-seizure medication and sent home. However, a week later, she returned to the hospital because the numbness in her hands and feet continued. Eventually, a consultant from Johns Hopkins University suggested that the symptoms were very similar to an amoebic infection.

Her brain was gradually eaten away by amoeba bacteria.

The medical team quickly contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and conducted tests and discovered that the woman's brain contained an extremely rare brain-eating amoeba.

Although the patient was treated immediately with medication and antibiotics, it was too late. Within a week, she fell into a deep coma, her brain had almost lost its shape and become soft, the chance of survival was very low. The family decided to let her go not long after.

Brain-eating amoebas are extremely rare, hiding and living in soil and water, and exist in two species called Naegleri and Balamuthia. The amoeba that infected the 69-year-old patient, Balamuthia, was discovered in 1986 and has since infected at least 200 people worldwide and 70 in the United States.

Brain-eating worms are extremely rare.

Balamuthia is highly fatal – 89% of cases, despite aggressive treatment. Doctors also warn that if a rash appears after cleaning your nose, you should see a doctor and get your condition checked.

How does brain-eating amoeba enter the human body?

The "brain-eating amoeba" often thrives in warm freshwater areas such as ponds, lakes, rivers, streams... in the summer; even swimming pools that are not cleaned and disinfected. They enter the body through the nose, move along the olfactory nerve fibers through the base of the skull to the brain, causing meningitis. The danger is that this amoeba can bypass all stages of disinfection and filtration, infecting the domestic water system of families.

However, this amoeba does not cause disease through drinking water, unless you rinse your mouth and the amoeba-infected water goes up your nose. According to experts' recommendations, for those who go swimming, while bathing, swimming in swimming pools, lakes, ponds, streams, limit water entering the nose as much as possible by keeping the head high to avoid submerging in water, and using a nose clip. Because amoeba enters through the nose, after bathing or swimming, you should clean your nose, use a nasal and throat antiseptic solution to spray and wash your nose.