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71-Year-Old Texas Woman Dies From Rare 'Brain-Eating Amoeba'
Clogged sinuses are a common problem, affecting millions of people every day. The widespread issue has led to a number of home remedies that are usually enough to provide some relief.
One tactic involves nasal irrigation through water - water is poured through one nostril as the person leans to the side. This helps the water and whatever is blocking the person's sinuses emerge from the other nostril.
It's an effective method, and neti pots are sold at drug stores and retailers around the country, but the remedy proved to be fatal for one Texas woman.
According to the CDC's Mortality and Weekly Report, a 71-year-old woman died after using water from a campground to fill her neti pot.
After using the water from an RV's water system, the woman began experiencing "fever, headache and [an] altered mental status."
The woman was then treated for Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis and suffered seizures as she was being helped and attended to.
The CDS says it believes that the woman also had Naegleria fowleri, a "brain-eating amoeba" that's found in lakes, hot springs and freshwater liquids.
The organization warns that only handful of people contract the amoeba each year, but that the mortality rate is close to 100% when it's discovered.
Ways to stay safe include wearing nose caps or plugs while swimming, keeping your head above water in hot springs, not digging in to shallow water and boiling water before taking it into one's sinuses.
In this instance, the amoeba was able to quickly travel to the woman's brain, which it did after she used the neti pot.
"If water containing the ameba goes up the nose and to the brain, it can cause an infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis," the organization warned.
The CDC says that the problematic amoeba can be found in soil and marshy, swampy areas around the world.
Since 1962 there have been nearly 200 cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis in the United States, and only four people have survived.
The amoeba cannot be contracted by swallowing water that has the bacteria in it, and it cannot be passed to others.
Rest in peace to the woman who died, and we send condolences to her family, friends and loved ones during this diffcult time.
71-Year-Old Texas Woman Dies From Rare 'Brain-Eating Amoeba' first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 5, 2025
