164
Donβt use unsterilized tap water to rinse your sinuses. It may carry brain-eating amoebas
(www.sciencenews.org)
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
164 points (95.1% liked)
Public Health
375 readers
3 users here now
For issues concerning:
- Public Health
- Global Health
- Health Systems & Policy
- Environmental Health
- Epidemiology
- etc.
π©Ί This community has a broader scope so please feel free to discuss. When it may not be clear, leave a comment talking about why something is important.
Related Communities
- Medical Community Hub
- Medicine
- Medicine Canada
- Premed
- Premed Canada
- Public Health (π)
See the pinned post in the Medical Community Hub for links and descriptions. link ([email protected])
Rules
Given the inherent intersection that these topics have with politics, we encourage thoughtful discussions while also adhering to the mander.xyz instance guidelines.
Try to focus on the scientific aspects and refrain from making overly partisan or inflammatory content
Our aim is to foster a respectful environment where we can delve into the scientific foundations of these topics. Thank you!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Some places are worse than others, from what I understand. Also, I haven't had an issue with my brain being eaten after years of swimming in freshwater sources.
The above paper was about a place in Pakistan, so who knows what their water is like..
Some streams in some U.S. national parks advise against submerging your head in the water for the risk of getting brain eating amoebas.
Warm still water specifically as I recall.
I have only had to take extra precautions in costal areas. When I was a kid, I remember some fairly strict warnings about amoebas in places like Florida and up the East Coast to North Carolina. Honestly, I don't remember that many details since that was about 35 years ago. (Maybe it's about water temperature or water chemistry, or something. Dunno.)
Reminiscing aside, all fresh water has risks for one reason or another. If you are ever lost, stranded or even on a super long hike everything becomes exponentially more dangerous anyway. (Small risks become massive risks, basically.)
If there is anything you never fuck around with in the wild, it's a water source. Not only can it host a ton of things that can kill you or just make you sick, it also attracts other, bigger, critters. Nevermind that we need a fuck ton of water to drink ourselves and need to stay near water sources.
Nature is brutal.
I'm more concerned about e coli levels than amoeba. But Lord only knows what gets into the South Saskatchewan River system and what grows vigorously once the water slows down in Lake Diefenbaker.
At least I've stopped swimming in the runoff sloughs in cattle pastures. (Kids are all kinds of stupid!)
I miss being a kid in the country, sometimes. The stupidity was never ending and the risk->reward function always paid massive dividends.
TBH, we had super clean water where I grew up and there were bigger risks than getting covered in cow shit, which did happen on occasion. (My best friend at the time got his hands on some blasting caps one weekend. We probably weren't much older than 12 or 13 at the time....)
Sorry for the tangent. This conversation kicked up more nostalgia than I expected.
No problem.
Heh! You had blasting caps, we had carbide (my grandfather was still running an acetylene generator in his welding/machine/mechanic shop).