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Woman Dies After Contracting Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba

A woman died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba after using tap water in her neti-pot to treat sinus.

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In a tragic incident, a 69-year-old woman died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba.

As per a report in International Journal of Infectious Diseases, a sinus infection had earlier made the woman visit a doctor, who prescribed her with a neti-pot to flush out the sinus, a commonly used treatment.

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The treatment requires the use of sterile or saline water. The woman, however, used tap water filtered from Brita Water Purifier, which developed a rash on her nose and raw skin near her nostrils: symptoms associated with a condition called rosacea.

A woman died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba after using tap water in her neti-pot to treat sinus.
The rash on her nose and raw skin near her nostrils after she used neti-pot with tap water.
(Photo Courtesy: International Journal of Infectious Diseases)

Repeated consultations with doctors failed to cure her skin condition. Things got worse when she had a seizure a year later: making the left side of her body shake. Finally, a CT scan revealed that a she had a 1.5 cm lesion on her brain, making the doctors believe it was a tumor. The fact that the woman’s family had a history of breast cancer solidified this suspicion.

In reality, however, she was suffering with an amoebic infection. While she was in her second surgery, doctors noted a “clear evidence of amoebic infection and dramatic hemorrhagic necrosis.”

As per a report in People, the journal entry said,

Despite aggressive anti-amoebic therapy, the patient’s condition continued to deteriorate. Within one week she was more somnolent and then became comatose. At this point, the family decided to withdraw support.

Lab results showed that her infection was from Balamuthia mandrillaris, which is a free-living amoeba that is found in the soil and fresh water and is associated with granulomatous amoebic encephalitis.

Due to the difficulty of diagnosis and severity of the infection caused by this amoeba, the fatality rate for Balamuthia infection is nearly 100% , the report stated.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Balamuthia was first discovered in 1986 and has since been reported in about 200 cases worldwide, with 70 confirmed cases in the United States.

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Topics:  Sinusitis 

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