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Nasal rinses can relieve sinus congestion. But using the wrong liquid can, in rare cases, give people infections with deadly brain-eating amoebas.
Washing the sinuses with unsterilized tap water can expose people to Acanthamoeba and Naegleria fowleri, amoebas commonly found in lakes, rivers and other bodies of water, but which can also live in tap water. The single-celled organisms can cause skin diseases, eye or lung infections and fatal brain infections (SN: 7/20/15).
That practice is the likely source of rare Acanthamoeba infections in 10 people in the United States, most of which occurred in the past decade, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report March 13 in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Three died.
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