Bacteria cited in 2 brain infection deaths
Two Louisiana residents died of a fatal brain infection contracted using contaminated tap water in a neti pot to irrigate their sinuses.
State Department of Health and Hospitals officials are warning residents to use either distilled bottled water or boiled tap water in neti pots to avoid the risk of contracting the disease, according to a DHH news release.
A woman in DeSoto Parish and a man in St. Bernard Parish both died earlier this year after contracting primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection that leads to the destruction of brain tissue, the news release said.
Neti pots, a non-medical remedy to clear sinuses, look like a genie’s lamp. Water in the pot goes in one nostril and comes out the other.
The disease is caused by the bacteria Naegleria fowleri, which infects people by entering the body through the nose.
A DHH regional medical director in Shreveport, Dr. Martha Whyte, said the bacteria cannot be transmitted by drinking tap water or through cuts or the bloodstream.
Whyte said the bacteria is contracted through the nose when it backs up to the nerves between the nasal passages and the brain.
Naegleria fowleri infections are very rare, Whyte said.
From 2001 to 2010, only 32 infections were reported in the U.S. Of those cases, 30 were infected by contaminated recreational water and two were infected by water from a hot spring.
Whyte said DHH officials are not sure why two Louisiana residents contracted the disease within a few months.
The infection typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater lakes or rivers, DHH official said in the release.
In rare instances, the infection can occur when contaminated water from other sources, such as inadequately chlorinated swimming pool water or tap water less than 116.6 degrees Fahrenheit, enters the nose when people submerge their heads or when people clear their sinuses with a neti pot.
The initial symptoms of PAM start one to seven days after infection and include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and stiff neck.
Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations.
Whyte said the disease is almost always fatal and causes death within one to 12 days.
Visit http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov for more information.