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Brain-Eating Amoebas!

Falls into the category of 'very creepy':


09:59 AM ET
Brain-eating amoebas kill 10 in Pakistan

A waterborne, brain-destroying species of amoeba has killed 10 people in Karachi, Pakistan, this year, prompting local water officials to increase the amount of chlorine in the city’s water supply and advise residents to use sterilized water when performing a Muslim ritual which involves cleansing the nostrils.

Misbahuddin Farid, managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, said the origin of the amoebas had not been determined, according to a report in the Dawn newspaper.

Naegleria fowleri

The amoeba, known by the scientific name Naegleria fowleri, is virtually impossible to detect in the water and its presence in humans is determined by spinal tests, according to information on the water board’s website.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Naegleria fowleri amoeba causes a severe brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis. The disease is usually fatal.

The amoeba most commonly enters the body through the nasal passages and usually infects people who have been swimming in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, according to the CDC.

But it can exist in improperly chlorinated swimming pool or heated tap water, the CDC says.

Only one of the 10 victims of the current outbreak in Pakistan had visited a swimming pool, according to another report from the Dawn newspaper, so authorities are focusing on the Muslim ablution ritual, or waddu.

“Special care should be taken when doing waddu, brushing teeth or cleaning the nasal area,” the water board’s website says.

Two people in the U.S. state of Louisiana died from the amoeba last year after apparently contracting it when rinsing their sinuses with a neti pot, a small vessel used to pour warm water into one nostril and out the other.

Three other Americans died last year after contracting the amoeba while swimming.

The Karachi water board said it would increase chlorine content in the water supply for the city of more than 15 million people after tests of more than 900 water samples taken around the city found 22% to be unchlorinated or have insufficient levels of the chemical, according to a report in the Dawn newspaper.

Saghir Ahmed, minister of health for Sindh state, in which Karachi is located, said residents should be safe if they followed the water board’s advice.

“There is no reason to panic and citizens should stay calm and take precautions,” Ahmed was quoted by Dawn as saying.
 

BrianDamage

Council Member
This is why you should always boil water, then let it cool, before using it in a Neti pot, or squirting it up your nose.
 
This is why you should always boil water, then let it cool, before using it in a Neti pot, or squirting it up your nose.
Well, yes, and people should also avoid bathing in hot springs, or in warm rivers or lakes. That is how most of the people have caught this horrendous little parasite here in America....
 

Friday13

Governor
Rick Scott's being very helpful in FL...

In an embarrassing mistake, Florida Governor Rick Scott gave out a phone sex hotline number to Floridians seeking information on a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.

Scott was providing an update on the outbreak at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday when he announced what he said was the hotline's toll-free phone line, but gave out the wrong number.

The governor's office was alerted by a public radio station in Tampa, WUSF, which was monitoring the cabinet meeting and posted the number on its website.

The station said it was "quickly notified by a reader that the number instead connected to an adult telephone line."

LINK
 
And that deadly fungal meningitis outbreak is a stunning rebuke to those who are saying that we are 'over-regulated'. The outbreak originated in a 'compounding pharmacy', which the FDA is not allowed to regulate....at the insistence of Republicans, naturally. CNN showed the other day that the compounding pharmacy in question had an unsightly garbage dump right outside its doors, and the dump actually belongs to the same company, and the company's executives refused to answer any questions from CNN. In fact, the CNN reporters were ordered to leave the premises by some company goon.
 

Friday13

Governor
The outbreak originated in a 'compounding pharmacy', which the FDA is not allowed to regulate....at the insistence of Republicans, naturally.
Par for the course, LeRoy. If they could de-regulate us down to Somali level...
 
Par for the course, LeRoy. If they could de-regulate us down to Somali level...
This is KILLING people, and the whole story is beginning to remind me of the sordid scandal surrounding the Peanut Corporation of America, which killed more than a dozen people with a salmonella outbreak a few years ago. I heard the scary statistic that more than 13,000 people may have received injections of chemicals that were manufactured at this facility. Could we see a much larger death toll? We very well might.
 

Addy

Rebuild With Biden!
This is why you should always boil water, then let it cool, before using it in a Neti pot, or squirting it up your nose.
If one uses bought distilled bottled water like that in those gallon sized containers.. does it still need to be boiled, Brian?
 
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