Woman dies from rare brain-eating amoeba after rinsing sinuses with tap water, doctors say

A 69-year-old Seattle woman died after becoming infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that doctors suspect she got after using a nasal irrigation device with tap water.The woman regularly used the product flush out sinuses in order to alleviate a sinus infection she had, KOMO-TV reported.However, she told her doctor that she used unfiltered tap water instead of saline or sterile water, which is supposed to be used in the device, KIRO-TV reported.Dr. Charles Cobbs, a neurosurgeon from Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, operated on the woman in January and said such a diagnosis is extremely rare.There have only been about 200 cases worldwide of balamuthia mandrillaris infection, which is the least recognized brain-eating amoeba within the medical community. It’s also slow-acting, taking weeks or months to become deadly.“It’s not something to be scared about because it’s extraordinarily rare. But still, there’s a lot to learn,” Cobbs told KIRO.Doctors were initially stumped by the woman’s symptoms, which included a sore on her nose that she had for about a year, and later seizures, according to The Seattle Times.Then doctors found a growth in her brain that they initially believed to be a tumor. It grew from the size of a dime to a baseball within days.According to a case study recently published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the sore on the woman’s nose was likely the first symptom, but it was overlooked as a common skin condition.“It’s such an incredibly uncommon disease it was not on anyone’s radar that this initial nose sore would be related to her brain,” researcher Keenan Piper told The Seattle Times.Because the deadly infection is difficult to diagnose, it’s possible other cases may have been missed, authors of the case study said.

A 69-year-old Seattle woman died after becoming infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that doctors suspect she got after using a nasal irrigation device with tap water.

The woman regularly used the product flush out sinuses in order to alleviate a sinus infection she had, KOMO-TV reported.


However, she told her doctor that she used unfiltered tap water instead of saline or sterile water, which is supposed to be used in the device, KIRO-TV reported.

Dr. Charles Cobbs, a neurosurgeon from Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, operated on the woman in January and said such a diagnosis is extremely rare.

There have only been about 200 cases worldwide of balamuthia mandrillaris infection, which is the least recognized brain-eating amoeba within the medical community. It’s also slow-acting, taking weeks or months to become deadly.

“It’s not something to be scared about because it’s extraordinarily rare. But still, there’s a lot to learn,” Cobbs told KIRO.

Doctors were initially stumped by the woman’s symptoms, which included a sore on her nose that she had for about a year, and later seizures, according to The Seattle Times.

Then doctors found a growth in her brain that they initially believed to be a tumor. It grew from the size of a dime to a baseball within days.

According to a case study recently published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the sore on the woman’s nose was likely the first symptom, but it was overlooked as a common skin condition.

“It’s such an incredibly uncommon disease it was not on anyone’s radar that this initial nose sore would be related to her brain,” researcher Keenan Piper told The Seattle Times.

Because the deadly infection is difficult to diagnose, it’s possible other cases may have been missed, authors of the case study said.