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Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

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Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#191

Post by hnnh44 »

amelius wrote: post #156
_0w8t wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the water heater uses copper pipes, the copper still gets into the water. And even with plastic pipes the trace amount of plastic may still end in the water and nobody knows if drinking such water for, say, 40 years is safe. So do not use hot water for cooking/drinking.

You can buy food supplements containing copper explicitly, so I wonder how bad that could be.

Copper containers are actually great at killing bacteria.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312355/

But high levels can cause health problems, including kidney damage and possibly cancer.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/programs/consultation...

Between dying of dysentery and risking long term health issues it's a simple choice.

But unless your doctor specifically tells you to add more copper, you shouldn't be going out of your way to get it.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#192

Post by MertsA »

slededit wrote: post #170
MertsA wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what is in your hot water tank right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAzKts6Wp1Q&t=55s If your water heater is malfunctioning and not heating up all the way to 140 degrees but it's still heating up to e.g. 100 degrees then it's a breeding ground for listeria. The temperature difference changes the solubility of minerals and salts dissolved in it as well as changing how quickly everything even slightly vo…

Paradoxically if that is in the tank it means the water coming out must be purer than cold since the contaminats are left in the tank - on average.

In terms of dissolved minerals sure, but there's two important distinctions to make. The tank isn't just accumulating deposits, there's an anode rod inside that's designed as a sacrificial element to protect the tank itself from corrosion. That anode rod gets consumed over the course of a decade so while it's not much, it is being introduced into the water. Also those deposits provide a porous substrate for bacteria to grow on and the heat will help things along.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#193

Post by wholinator2 »

solatic wrote: post #143
jimmyswimmy wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of Neil-Med, the documentation I have retained says to use previously boiled or properly filtered water (they provide some examples) when mixing. And they say not to use tap water. But they don't inform the user of the potential hazard of using otherwise safe-to-consume tap water. Worse, the bottle (mine is a squeeze bottle) doesn't have any reminder not to use tap water, at all. It would seem this would…

> But they don't inform the user of the potential hazard of using otherwise safe-to-consume tap water. Devil's advocate: if they did, odds are consumers would consider it as if the company is peddling conspiracy theories rather than actual science. Or "maybe it's true for tap water where the pots are made, but I trust my tap water and I know it's safe". If such explanations are more likely to harm a company's percept…

The good that that does is saving lives, even if it harms the companies reputation. It sounds like you're suggesting that a companies reputation is worth more than the potential death of unknowing, innocent people.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#194

Post by duskwuff »

8bitsrule wrote: post #104
legohead wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

109 cases in a little over 40 years.. yeah, this is more of a freak occurrence. also, the article says they never tested the water, so this idea of the neti pot is just a guess to begin with.

There must have been something else involved. Should we not swim in pools, rivers or lakes, or submerge ourselves in hot tubs? Netis are part of Ayurvedic medicine in India since long before people dreamed of personal immortality. Remember when people worked outside all summer without worrying about excess UV? Maybe we're overthinking this stuff, we Chicken Little emulators.

> Netis are part of Ayurvedic medicine in India since long before people dreamed of personal immortality.

Yes. And in that time period, average life expectancy was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 years. The risk of death from neti pot use was hardly significant compared to all the other health risks anyone living at the time would be exposed to.

The same goes for skin cancer. It's a meaningful risk to us today because we can live long enough for the cumulative damage from solar radiation to be a meaningful cause of mortality.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#195

Post by erik_seaberg »

duskwuff wrote: post #194
8bitsrule wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There must have been something else involved. Should we not swim in pools, rivers or lakes, or submerge ourselves in hot tubs? Netis are part of Ayurvedic medicine in India since long before people dreamed of personal immortality. Remember when people worked outside all summer without worrying about excess UV? Maybe we're overthinking this stuff, we Chicken Little emulators.

> Netis are part of Ayurvedic medicine in India since long before people dreamed of personal immortality. Yes. And in that time period, average life expectancy was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 years. The risk of death from neti pot use was hardly significant compared to all the other health risks anyone living at the time would be exposed to. The same goes for skin cancer. It's a meaningful risk to us today be…

30 is the mean between infants and 60-year-olds. There has never been a society in which dying at 30 was typical.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#196

Post by bonestamp2 »

arvinjoar wrote: post #128
bonestamp2 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention, hot water tanks are a prime facility for some of these pests to grow while most people have no idea they should avoid their home hot water for anything other than washing. It should not be consumed in any way... this is why coffee makers specifically tell you to use cold water.

Pretty sure that is because of metals. Living things die when boiling anyway

Hot water tanks aren't hot enough to sterilize. In fact, they're a perfect temperature to grow many things.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#197

Post by ec109685 »

baddox wrote: post #158
Tharkun wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source? 'access to the blood brain barrier' sounds odd. You make it sound like the BBB magically starts in the nostrils and is somehow weak there. That's not how the BBB works. Sure, your nostrils are closer to your brain than, say, your teeth, but not by much.

I’m fairly sure that different body parts do provide easier access to the blood brain barrier. In this case, I would guess that it’s because of the mucous membranes in the nasal cavity. There must be a reason people snort cocaine rather then just rub it on their hands.

Great comment. They don’t dissolve it into water and gargle either.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#198

Post by angry_octet »

asynchronous13 wrote: post #85
angry_octet wrote: post #59

I'm stunned at how many people are commenting that they will continue using untreated water. You can end up having your brain eaten and die, I can't think of a PSA any more convincing.

There's been ~100 cases in 40 years. That's less than 3 people per year, so it's very rare. There's about 10 shark attacks per year in the U.S. Now that you know that, will you stay out of the ocean forever? Or will you maybe take the risk and go for a dip if you go on a beach vacation? edit Plus, of those 40 cases the vast majority are from swimming in lakes. So there's only a handful of cases where the infection wa…

And yet, how little effort is it to use saline or boiled water? Boil the kettle, leave to cool. Warm water is more comfortable anyway.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#200

Post by Dowwie »

Tharkun wrote: post #87

I don't get the scare mongering in this discussion. People are saying to always boil the water, to not cook with hot tap water, etc. Don't these people bathe in hot tap water? Don't they drink cold tap water? Do they all live in areas with super unsafe tap water? Or is there a specific danger that comes from the water going up your nostrils? (Which can easily happen while bathing) What am I missing here?

The source of the tap water matters. The article doesn't appear to mention this important detail.
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