Texas Woman Dies After Rinsing Sinuses with Tap Water

A 71-year-old Texas woman died from a rare brain infection after using tap water to rinse her sinuses while camping.

While out camping, the woman filled up her a nasal rinse device with tap water from her RV’s faucet and used it. Four days later she became confused and developed a fever and headache. The symptoms got so severe that she was eventually rushed to the hospital.

Brain eating infection from tap water!

At the hospital doctors shockingly discovered the presence of a brain eating amoeba in her spinal fluid. She was diagnosed with primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a fast-moving and almost always deadly brain infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, better known as the “brain-eating amoeba.”

Doctors quickly began to treat her however, her condition quickly worsened, and she died just eight days after symptoms began.

The CDC says Naegleria fowleri is usually found in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, but this case is different, it came from a nasal rinse using non-boiled, possibly contaminated tap water. Investigators believe the RV’s water system may have introduced the amoeba, either through an old water tank or a direct hookup to a municipal water source.

Wouldn't the same warning apply to drinking tap water?

Not quite.

The risk from Naegleria fowleri comes specifically from water entering through your nose, not your mouth. When you drink contaminated tap water, your stomach acid typically kills the amoeba before it can do any harm.

But when water goes up your nose, like during a sinus rinse or if you inhale water while swimming, it can bypass those defenses. That’s when it becomes dangerous. The amoeba can travel directly into the brain, where it causes a deadly infection.
So:
Drinking tap water? Generally safe, unless there’s another kind of contamination.
Snorting, rinsing, or accidentally inhaling tap water? That’s where the warning applies—boil, distill, or sterilize it first.