CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida man died last month from an infection with a rare amoeba after rinsing his sinuses with tap water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to a letter obtained by Fox 4, the CDC said the man would rinse his nose daily with unboiled tap water.
The CDC said it is the first case in which someone was infected through tap water.
“People who irrigate, flush, or rinse their sinuses should use distilled water or tap water that has been boiled and cooled,” the CDC wrote.
Charlotte County officials are investigating the man’s death.
The CDC said Naegleria fowleri is found in bodies of warm freshwater, such as lakes and rivers, and not found in salt water, like the ocean.
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Last year, Dr. Todd Husty, an emergency medical specialist in Seminole County, talked to News 6 after a 13-year-old Florida boy contracted a brain-eating amoeba.
“It destroys brain cells, I mean that’s really what it does,” he said. “You can’t get this from drinking water, OK? You can get other things from drinking bad water, but you’re not gonna get this from drinking water. This is water up your nose.”
Read more here.
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