Texas woman died after rinsing sinuses with infected tap water — here's how to keep yourself safe
A 71-year-old woman reportedly contracted a brain infection from using tap water — and died from it.
Regardless of whether tap water is safe to consume where you live, experts advise against letting it go into your sinuses — or you risk being exposed to a brain-eating condition, like this unidentified woman.
According to the CDC, if water contains amoeba — single-celled organisms — and it gets into a person's nose, it can travel to the brain and cause the fatal infection, commonly known as 'brain-eating amoeba' but the technical term for it is Naegleria fowleri, which is what most likely happened to this woman.
Naegleria fowleri is a rare but deadly condition.
Susan Vineyard – stock.adobe.com
Although the Texas Department of State Health Services claims that the sink water in the area is safe to consume, they believe the woman rinsed her sinuses from an RV's water system at a campground and was infected by Naegleria fowleri, as explained by the Daily Mail.
The condition — typically found in warm water lakes and rivers — is rare, but it's deadly — killing almost 97% of people who contract it.
The CDC reported 157 confirmed cases in the nation between 1962 and 2022.
And reportedly, Texas is one of the few US states that has the largest number of amoeba cases.
In addition to Texas, Florida has also fallen victim to this terrifying infection.
In 2023, a Florida woman contracted the brain-eating infection the same way the Texas woman did — and died from it.
Experts recommend a few different ways to avoid possibly getting infected with this condition.
Getty Images
'The adult patient reportedly performed nasal rinsing daily with unboiled tap water, which is thought to be the source of the infection,' the CDC said in a statement to Fox 4.
Symptoms of Naegleria fowleri start to show up about 15 days after a person has been exposed.
They can range from a mild fever, headache, nausea and vomiting — to more severe ones like a stiff neck, confusion, lack of attention, loss of balance and seizures.
Unfortunately, once a person has been exposed and severely infected — even with treatment, most will die from it.
Regardless of where someone lives and the quality of their area's tap water — to avoid any potential exposure to this serious condition, experts recommend boiling water before rinsing sinuses with it or using distilled water, avoid going underwater in a bathtub or freshwater.
It's also recommended to supervise children playing with sprinklers, and if you haven't been home in a few days, let water run for several minutes in sinks or showers to flush out stagnant water.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
A bat in Morgan County has tested positive for rabies, health officials warn
MORGAN, Utah () — The Weber-Morgan Health Department is reminding residents to ensure their pets' vaccinations are up to date and avoid touching bats or other wild animals after a bat tested positive for rabies. This marks the first report of a rabies-positive bat in Utah for 2025. Health officials warn that as the weather warms up, the chances of coming into contact with rabies increase. 'Bats play an important role in our ecosystem and the majority of the bats in our population are healthy and tend to keep to themselves,' explained Amy Carter, a communicable disease nurse with the Weber-Morgan Health Department. 'However, if you see one in the daylight, or if it's in a place where you or your pet can pick it up, there's a good chance it is ill.' VIDEO: Man hangs Israeli and American flag on mosque in Salt Lake City Rabies is to both pets and humans if left untreated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It primarily spreads to humans and pets through bites and scratches from an infected animal. Common carriers include bats, skunks, raccoons, foxes and unvaccinated cats and dogs. Every year, roughly 60,000 Americans receive medical treatment following a potential rabies exposure, but control measures in the United States have helped reduce the virus as a public health threat. 'The good news is that rabies is preventable,' Carter said. Heber Valley Temple lawsuit: Judge hears arguments on temple construction Some recommendations to protect you and your pets include keeping your pet's vaccinations up-to-date, as required by Utah law, and staying away from wild animals. If a wild animal appears sick, injured or is acting strangely, the Weber-Morgan Health Department recommends calling animal control for assistance. 'Vaccination is important because it is how we prevent rabies in our cats and dogs. It saves time and heartache if your pet is involved in a biting incident or comes in contact with a rabid bat or other animal,' said Carter. If you are bitten or scratched by a bat or any other wild animal, the Weber-Morgan Health Department said you should immediately wash the wound with soap and water and visit your doctor. If possible, safely contain the bat or animal and contact the so it can be tested for rabies. The Weber-Morgan Health Department also recommends reporting any interactions with a bat found in a sleeping area. More information about bats, animals and rabies can be found through the or the . Suspect hides in trap door during SWAT raid in Murray Trump tax bill would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over a decade: CBO Judge tosses Democrats' challenge to Trump order's effect on FEC A bat in Morgan County has tested positive for rabies, health officials warn Historic Hill Air Force Base chapel reopens following years of extensive renovations Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The U.S. hasn't seen a new confirmed human bird flu case in nearly 4 months — why?
Soaring egg prices and concerns about bird flu spreading from wild birds and cattle to humans were top of mind for many Americans at the beginning of 2025. The topic recently made its way back into headlines when Moderna announced that the Trump administration was canceling a $766 million contract to develop a bird flu vaccine for humans. Over the past 15 months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 70 human cases of bird flu across 13 states. The last known cases were reported nearly four months ago, in February, in Nevada, Ohio and Wyoming. California was a hot spot for human bird flu cases, with 38 infections confirmed by January this year. No cases have been reported in the state since. The Associated Press has reported, citing state records, that testing efforts have 'fallen off.' During 2024 at least 50 people were tested per month, compared with three people tested in March, one in April and none in May. 'In recent weeks, the overall number of new animal H5N1 virus infections reported by [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] has declined, reducing the number of people exposed to infected animals, and human cases have declined as well,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. While there's the possibility that the H5N1 virus is waning in the U.S. for the time being, experts are worried that the efforts to monitor bird flu infections is the factor that's actually waning. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, is worried because while these latest cases have been relatively mild, the virus has been 'quite deadly,' historically speaking. 'Of the known human cases that have been identified, about half of them have died, Nuzzo told Yahoo News, 'and that is a truly staggering percentage.' Yahoo News spoke to Nuzzo and Dr. Robert Hopkins, medical director at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, in an effort to gain some insight as to why those CDC case numbers haven't budged in humans. 'The short answer is, we don't know,' Nuzzo said. But experts like her have offered some possibilities: 1. Migratory bird patterns have changed: Wild birds are primary spreaders of avian flu. The United States could be experiencing a natural and temporary decline in human cases, which tend to peak in the fall and early winter, possibly because migration patterns have seasonally changed as well, a CDC official noted during a May call with U.S. doctors. 'As we expect to see bird migration patterns rev back up here in the next few months, I suspect we're going to see increased levels of H5N1 in migratory birds,' Hopkins said. 'That's probably going to result in more poultry flocks and more other animals infected. I think that again raises our risk.' 2. It's possible that less of the virus is circulating: Humans can become infected with bird flu through exposure to sick wild birds, poultry, backyard flocks or cattle. Avian flu infections are still being detected in birds and cattle but not as frequently as they were several months ago. 'Since February 2025, there have been fewer affected dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks in the United States, and we believe, fewer workers are being exposed to sick animals,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. 3. Testing at the state and local levels for H5N1 has decreased: Nuzzo suggested that perhaps there has been an overall reduction in human testing for H5N1, rather than a decrease in viral spread. 'One of the concerns that I have is that states have appeared to be conducting just less general testing for H5N1,' Nuzzo said. 'Those things coupled with a general lack of any communication from federal agencies about H5N1 leaves us very concerned that what we might be seeing is just a contraction of surveillance and not necessarily an abatement of the virus.' A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News that the agency's 'guidance and surveillance efforts for human cases of H5N1 virus infections have not changed. State and local health departments continue to monitor for illness in persons exposed to sick animals. However, no new human cases of H5N1 virus infections have been identified and reported to CDC in recent months.' 4. Less prevalence in wastewater surveillance: People who contract bird flu can shed pieces of the virus through wastewater, like from handwashing, bathing or laundering clothes. But as the CDC website notes, 'Wastewater data cannot determine the source of influenza A viruses.' Nuzzo agrees that wastewater surveillance alone isn't the best method in determining whether human bird flu infections are waning but 'probably the best thing we have in terms of figuring out how much virologic activity is occurring.' Hopkins says the presence of H5N1 showing up in wastewater surveillance has slowed. 'So less virus means less transmission,' Hopkins said. 'They are positive factors for right now, and they don't mean that we won't have greater problems going forward,' he cautioned. For the week ending May 24, out of 340 sites nationwide as part of the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System, there were 17 sites, in New Jersey and Oregon, that reported any detection of H5N1, according to the CDC. 5. The current virus strain isn't good at infecting humans: The CDC has confirmed instances of bird flu that have passed from birds to animals, from birds to humans and from animals to humans. What about human to human? 'It appears that this H5 virus has not developed the mutations necessary to easily transmit to humans and to easily transmit from person to person because we don't have any confirmed person-to-person spread either,' Hopkins said. 'That's my deep fear,' Nuzzo said. 'I do know there have been concerns about attention on [bird flu] from the agricultural sector, in part due to USDA cuts and letting go of the staff who worked on H5N1.' With the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, more than 15,000 USDA employees have taken one of two financial incentives to leave the agency. Three of 14 experts responding to disease outbreaks at the National Animal Health Laboratory Network are among the staff that have accepted the offers. Nuzzo said even before the cuts, experts like herself were concerned that states weren't being aggressive enough in responding to H5N1 either because they didn't think it was a problem or because it was on the back burner. 'In 2024, federal agencies regularly held briefings on the topic with both outside experts like myself, but also state and local health officials,' Nuzzo said. 'I think absent that, it's just hard to know what is going on, and it's hard to not assume that things aren't going on. It also makes it hard to say, one way or another, how much of an issue [bird flu] is.' The CDC says the current risk to the general public is low, although it is higher for people who work with cattle and poultry or who are in contact with wild birds. Right at this moment, Nuzzo said, the general public shouldn't be worried about bird flu. 'The people that I'm worried about are people who are being exposed to infected animals,' Nuzzo said, 'and that's largely people in the agricultural sector, the farm workers who have disincentives for coming forward if they become infected.' Immigration labor accounts for 51% of all dairy labor, according to the National Milk Producers Federation. Experts are concerned that undocumented workers are avoiding bird flu testing out of fear of coming forward and being deported under President Trump's immigration crackdown. 'The fear among undocumented workers — especially in the current climate — is real and can significantly impact public health efforts,' Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern, told the Telegraph. 'If people don't feel safe coming forward for testing or care, we risk missing early signs of spread, especially in high-risk populations like dairy farm workers,' she added. A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News: 'Farmworkers are typically a hard population to reach, and CDC continues to do outreach through trusted partners.' 'I do think it's important for people to realize that even before COVID, pandemics happened regularly,' Nuzzo said, adding that there were three influenza pandemics in the 20th century: 1918, 1957 and 1968. There was also an influenza pandemic in 2009. 'The fact that most people don't even remember that we had a pandemic in 2009 is because of investments that were made by [then-President] George Bush in 2004, 2005,' Nuzzo said, referring to investments in vaccine development, virus surveillance and people on the ground to respond to a pandemic. Nuzzo said she isn't certain if H5N1 will trigger the next flu pandemic. However, she is certain there will be another pandemic, and it will likely be an influenza pandemic. 'The good news is that we can make flu vaccines; we do have tools to address it, but they're only going to be helpful if we have them when we need them,' Nuzzo said. When asked about the Trump administration's decision to cancel the Moderna bird flu vaccine contract, she said: 'Shutting down the investments today is a very short-sighted move that we very likely will regret in the future.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The U.S. hasn't seen a new confirmed human bird flu case in nearly 4 months — why?
Soaring egg prices and concerns about bird flu spreading from wild birds and cattle to humans were top of mind for many Americans at the beginning of 2025. The topic recently made its way back into headlines when Moderna announced that the Trump administration was canceling a $766 million contract to develop a bird flu vaccine for humans. Over the past 15 months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 70 human cases of bird flu across 13 states. The last known cases were reported nearly four months ago, in February, in Nevada, Ohio and Wyoming. California was a hot spot for human bird flu cases, with 38 infections confirmed by January this year. No cases have been reported in the state since. The Associated Press has reported, citing state records, that testing efforts have 'fallen off.' During 2024 at least 50 people were tested per month, compared with three people tested in March, one in April and none in May. 'In recent weeks, the overall number of new animal H5N1 virus infections reported by [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] has declined, reducing the number of people exposed to infected animals, and human cases have declined as well,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. While there's the possibility that the H5N1 virus is waning in the U.S. for the time being, experts are worried that the efforts to monitor bird flu infections is the factor that's actually waning. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, is worried because while these latest cases have been relatively mild, the virus has been 'quite deadly,' historically speaking. 'Of the known human cases that have been identified, about half of them have died, Nuzzo told Yahoo News, 'and that is a truly staggering percentage.' Yahoo News spoke to Nuzzo and Dr. Robert Hopkins, medical director at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, in an effort to gain some insight as to why those CDC case numbers haven't budged in humans. 'The short answer is, we don't know,' Nuzzo said. But experts like her have offered some possibilities: 1. Migratory bird patterns have changed: Wild birds are primary spreaders of avian flu. The United States could be experiencing a natural and temporary decline in human cases, which tend to peak in the fall and early winter, possibly because migration patterns have seasonally changed as well, a CDC official noted during a May call with U.S. doctors. 'As we expect to see bird migration patterns rev back up here in the next few months, I suspect we're going to see increased levels of H5N1 in migratory birds,' Hopkins said. 'That's probably going to result in more poultry flocks and more other animals infected. I think that again raises our risk.' 2. It's possible that less of the virus is circulating: Humans can become infected with bird flu through exposure to sick wild birds, poultry, backyard flocks or cattle. Avian flu infections are still being detected in birds and cattle but not as frequently as they were several months ago. 'Since February 2025, there have been fewer affected dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks in the United States, and we believe, fewer workers are being exposed to sick animals,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. 3. Testing at the state and local levels for H5N1 has decreased: Nuzzo suggested that perhaps there has been an overall reduction in human testing for H5N1, rather than a decrease in viral spread. 'One of the concerns that I have is that states have appeared to be conducting just less general testing for H5N1,' Nuzzo said. 'Those things coupled with a general lack of any communication from federal agencies about H5N1 leaves us very concerned that what we might be seeing is just a contraction of surveillance and not necessarily an abatement of the virus.' A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News that the agency's 'guidance and surveillance efforts for human cases of H5N1 virus infections have not changed. State and local health departments continue to monitor for illness in persons exposed to sick animals. However, no new human cases of H5N1 virus infections have been identified and reported to CDC in recent months.' 4. Less prevalence in wastewater surveillance: People who contract bird flu can shed pieces of the virus through wastewater, like from handwashing, bathing or laundering clothes. But as the CDC website notes, 'Wastewater data cannot determine the source of influenza A viruses.' Nuzzo agrees that wastewater surveillance alone isn't the best method in determining whether human bird flu infections are waning but 'probably the best thing we have in terms of figuring out how much virologic activity is occurring.' Hopkins says the presence of H5N1 showing up in wastewater surveillance has slowed. 'So less virus means less transmission,' Hopkins said. 'They are positive factors for right now, and they don't mean that we won't have greater problems going forward,' he cautioned. For the week ending May 24, out of 340 sites nationwide as part of the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System, there were 17 sites, in New Jersey and Oregon, that reported any detection of H5N1, according to the CDC. 5. The current virus strain isn't good at infecting humans: The CDC has confirmed instances of bird flu that have passed from birds to animals, from birds to humans and from animals to humans. What about human to human? 'It appears that this H5 virus has not developed the mutations necessary to easily transmit to humans and to easily transmit from person to person because we don't have any confirmed person-to-person spread either,' Hopkins said. 'That's my deep fear,' Nuzzo said. 'I do know there have been concerns about attention on [bird flu] from the agricultural sector, in part due to USDA cuts and letting go of the staff who worked on H5N1.' With the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, more than 15,000 USDA employees have taken one of two financial incentives to leave the agency. Three of 14 experts responding to disease outbreaks at the National Animal Health Laboratory Network are among the staff that have accepted the offers. Nuzzo said even before the cuts, experts like herself were concerned that states weren't being aggressive enough in responding to H5N1 either because they didn't think it was a problem or because it was on the back burner. 'In 2024, federal agencies regularly held briefings on the topic with both outside experts like myself, but also state and local health officials,' Nuzzo said. 'I think absent that, it's just hard to know what is going on, and it's hard to not assume that things aren't going on. It also makes it hard to say, one way or another, how much of an issue [bird flu] is.' The CDC says the current risk to the general public is low, although it is higher for people who work with cattle and poultry or who are in contact with wild birds. Right at this moment, Nuzzo said, the general public shouldn't be worried about bird flu. 'The people that I'm worried about are people who are being exposed to infected animals,' Nuzzo said, 'and that's largely people in the agricultural sector, the farm workers who have disincentives for coming forward if they become infected.' Immigration labor accounts for 51% of all dairy labor, according to the National Milk Producers Federation. Experts are concerned that undocumented workers are avoiding bird flu testing out of fear of coming forward and being deported under President Trump's immigration crackdown. 'The fear among undocumented workers — especially in the current climate — is real and can significantly impact public health efforts,' Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern, told the Telegraph. 'If people don't feel safe coming forward for testing or care, we risk missing early signs of spread, especially in high-risk populations like dairy farm workers,' she added. A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News: 'Farmworkers are typically a hard population to reach, and CDC continues to do outreach through trusted partners.' 'I do think it's important for people to realize that even before COVID, pandemics happened regularly,' Nuzzo said, adding that there were three influenza pandemics in the 20th century: 1918, 1957 and 1968. There was also an influenza pandemic in 2009. 'The fact that most people don't even remember that we had a pandemic in 2009 is because of investments that were made by [then-President] George Bush in 2004, 2005,' Nuzzo said, referring to investments in vaccine development, virus surveillance and people on the ground to respond to a pandemic. Nuzzo said she isn't certain if H5N1 will trigger the next flu pandemic. However, she is certain there will be another pandemic, and it will likely be an influenza pandemic. 'The good news is that we can make flu vaccines; we do have tools to address it, but they're only going to be helpful if we have them when we need them,' Nuzzo said. When asked about the Trump administration's decision to cancel the Moderna bird flu vaccine contract, she said: 'Shutting down the investments today is a very short-sighted move that we very likely will regret in the future.'
