The woman contracted a fatal infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba and died eight days after developing symptoms.

A Texas woman died from an infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba days after she cleaned her sinuses using tap water, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case report.

The woman, an otherwise healthy 71-year-old, developed “severe neurologic symptoms,” including fever, headache and an altered mental status, four days after she filled a nasal irrigation device with tap water from her RV’s water system at a Texas campsite, the CDC report said.

She was treated for primary amebic meningoencephalitis — a brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, often referred to as the “brain-eating amoeba.” Despite treatment, the woman experienced seizures and died from the infection eight days after she developed symptoms, the agency said.

  • seathru
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    4 days ago

    tap water from her RV’s water system

    So basically water from a cistern. Not the public water system.

    • Nougat@fedia.io
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      4 days ago

      Even if it was tap water, it’s safe to drink and cook with, not necessarily to wash your frontal lobe with.