Overview

• A 71-year-old Texas woman died of primary amebic meningoencephalitis after using tap water from her RV’s water system for nasal irrigation.
• She reported several sinus rinses with non-boiled water from both the RV storage tank and a connected municipal supply before developing fever, headache and altered mental status within four days.
• Laboratory testing at the CDC confirmed Naegleria fowleri in her cerebrospinal fluid and the woman succumbed to the infection eight days after symptoms began.
• Water quality analysis revealed disinfectant levels below regulatory standards in the RV tank and identified the municipal hookup as an additional contamination risk.
• The CDC now stresses that nasal irrigation devices should only be filled with distilled, sterilized or boiled and cooled water to prevent similar fatalities.