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Why Alternative Medicine and Neti Pots are Causing Brain-Eating Amoeba Infections

Two people in Louisiana died in 2011 from the use of neti pots. The second death of the year attributed to naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba, occurred in December.

Neti pots are an Eastern method of clearing out the sinuses. By boiling water in the pot and then putting the nostrils upon the narrow tube releasing the steam, the neti pot has increased in popularity. Yet the unfamiliarity with the product and its sterilization and the myth of all natural remedies being superior to modern methods contributed to the deaths.

* Using water from natural streams instead of the tap has caused several deaths from naegleria fowleri. The amoeba can live in the soil and migrate into streams and rivers. One death was attributed to using unfiltered stream water containing naegleria fowleri, which then migrated with the steam into the manís nostrils and on to the brain.

* The neti pot needs to be sterilized with bleach or very hot water washes and then allowed to dry completely. Users have sometimes only rinsed out the Neti pot after each use with running water, often itself untreated. This increases the risk of Naegleria fowleri in the water or the user remaining in the neti pot and incubating there until it is reintroduced to the person.

* Irrigating the sinuses via the neti pot provided a direct route into the body into a warm, moist environment in which it lives. If naegleria fowleri is present in the water in the neti, users have a risk of infection that ironically does not exist if they simply drank the water.

* Since those who are using the neti pot tend to already have a sinus infection or a cold, they may not seek medical assistance for the high fever, stiff neck and neurological symptoms of naegleria fowleri infection until their lives are in jeopardy. The addition of new symptoms should drive those using neti pots to seek medical attention. Yet the use of alternative treatments may reduce the odds that they do seek proper medical treatment instead of alternative medicine.