Brain-eating amoeba

TL:DR – The brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, does not eat brains but it can cause fatal brain swelling. Avoid it by only using sterile water for nasal irrigation and a noseclip when swimming in warm freshwater lakes. Mrs Sciencebase was a yoga teacher for 20 years or thereabouts and one of the most peculiar aspects of that art was the use of the neti pot. A kind of jug with a long spout that allowed to pour a little water into your nostrils as part of a cleansing ritual. Technically known as nasal irrigation, but put simply it’s nothing more than pouring water into your nose. It always struck me as a bit pointless, most of our bodily orifices are self-cleaning except perhaps when there is disease present and a trip to the doctor’s is recommend rather than a random infusion (see also douching, coffee enemas, ear candling etc). I should point out that Mrs Sciencebase was not a practitioner of this particular aspect of yoga. Either way nowhere in the human laundry instructions does it say that our bodily orifices need any kind of irrigation. Of course, those same instructions also don’t mention climbing into the tumble dryer after a shower. With all this in mind, I was a little bemused to hear of tabloid headlines of the case of a Florida man who died after irrigating his nostrils. Apparently a rare brain-eating amoeba, which goes by the name of Naegleria fowleri. This single-celled organism lives in fresh water and soil. It’s not a brain e...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Health and Medicine Source Type: blogs