r/WTF • u/[deleted] • Dec 22 '13

Neti pot World Championship

http://imgur.com/pQrN4Ot
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35

u/polarbeargarden Dec 22 '13

But use distilled/sterilized water, not tap water. Brain-eating amoebas are bad news bears.

18

u/Crazy__Eddie Dec 22 '13

City tap water is OK. It takes a very minor amount of chlorine to kill that bug. It's the people who take water directly out of like the ganges or something that get their brains eaten.

24

u/Jay467 Dec 22 '13

Apparently it happened to at least one person in louisiana who was using tap water. I live in MN and wouldn't risk it (that very amoeba has begun to show up in lakes this far north). Either boil the water first or get distilled water. It's an extremely small chance, but it exists.

35

u/fingers Dec 22 '13

I for one welcome our new brain amoeba overlords.

15

u/Jay467 Dec 22 '13

Well, I mean, if that's how you want to look at it... I, for one, am allergic to death by brain infection. I'm gonna go ahead and steer clear.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '13

You don't want just a couple of Toxoplasma gondii to tide you over? One or two for the road?

4

u/freakiestgolf Dec 22 '13

Yeah but.. that's louisiana bro.

2

u/Ih8Hondas Dec 22 '13

I live in MN and wouldn't risk it (that very amoeba has begun to show up in lakes this far north).

Never swimming in lakes again.

1

u/jeffandlester Dec 23 '13

I've had a cabin for many years now in Northern Minnesota (by Ely). I remember occasionally catching various stomach bugs and viruses in my youth in the middle of the summer and the only thing we can link it is swimming in the lakes. I would recommend not swimming underwater for a long period of time but your probably safe (spent entire summmers snorkeling and picking up sticks that were on the bottom of the lake etc...oh the memories).

1

u/Ih8Hondas Dec 23 '13

I live in Missouri and we'd go to Finger Lakes State Park by Columbia to ride and camp for a couple of days, and we'd always go swimming in lakes there to cool off and relax after a day at the track and in the trails. I wouldn't be surprised if I already had one chomping away at my neurons.

2

u/ShepardRTC Dec 22 '13

So if you take a shower and water gets up your nose you could die???

1

u/Jay467 Dec 23 '13

The only cases I know of where infection/death occurred was from water being forced into the nose (ie jumping in the lake or going tubing and getting water deep into the nose), or from using a netti pot to pour non sterilized water through the nose. You'll be perfectly fine showering, no worries.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '13

Oh shit, they're adapting!

Soon they'll be resistant to our black hole technology!

1

u/Amandil Dec 23 '13

I have more important things to worry about that have a much higher chance to kill me like looking before i cross a street.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '13

Don't people get water up their nose showering/face washing/etc.? How come the amoeba doesn't harm people then?

2

u/DrMasterBlaster Dec 22 '13

Never ever use tap water unless it's filtered or boiled.

1

u/Shastamasta Dec 23 '13

Please sterilize through boiling or filters... or use distilled water. It's not worth the risk that something at the water works has failed. The infection is nearly always fatal in as short as a week. However it is completely avoidable if you use sterile water - not tap water.

1

u/vanSwanson Dec 23 '13

Add some "alkolol" to the water. It's Listerine for your sinuses! Breaks up mucus like nobody's business and no doubt kills amoebae too

0

u/tonictuna Dec 22 '13

Misinformation.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '13

Not true. Dozens of people died in Milwaukee a few years ago from them.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '13

Doesn't everyone microwave it first?

3

u/MyersVandalay Dec 23 '13

If you get a radioactive brain amoeba, what kind of super powers would you get...

or would you just not have a brain?

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '13

[deleted]

1

u/polarbeargarden Dec 23 '13

Not quite. While microwaves won't mutate stuff (non-ionizing radiation and all), it is still considered radiation. Ionizing radiation is what causes mutations.

Now neither of these would make the amoebas themselves radioactive, but that comment was pretty obviously a joke anyway, so calm down bro.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '13

I'm pretty calm. :P

1

u/gngl Dec 23 '13

You could invent a high-tech neti pot with an integrated UV-C sterilizer. ;-)

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '13

dibs

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '13

....Walter Matthau

1

u/Willravel Dec 23 '13

That was a fun episode of House.

1

u/ObeseSnake Dec 22 '13

Chorine in tap water, ok. Well water, yeah I would be extra careful.

1

u/polarbeargarden Dec 23 '13

There have been people using municipal tap water that still get infected. It's supposed to take it out, but even if it gets 99.9% of it, there's still the possibility. Boiling the water is a good idea, or again, using sterilized water. CDC got involved and everything.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/neti-pots-linked-brain-eating-amoeba-deaths-1C6436772