Death by neti pot: Why you shouldn’t use tap water to clean your sinuses

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Thomas Trutschel)

Just because something is safe to eat or drink doesn’t mean it’s safe to squirt deep inside your face, like your sinus cavities and eye sockets, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would like to remind you.

In a study published Wednesday in Emerging Infectious Diseases, CDC researchers looked at 10 cases where people developed life-threatening amoeba infections after cleaning out their sinuses, often with tap water via neti pots and squirt bottles. Such infections are relatively rare, but the number of people at risk of them is perhaps much greater than one might expect.

In a survey study published last year, researchers found that an alarming number of people in the US were completely misinformed about the safety of tap water for home medical uses. For instance, 33 percent of people incorrectly believed that US tap water is sterile, containing no living bacteria or other germs. Moreover, 62 percent of people wrongly thought it was safe to use tap water for rinsing your sinuses, 50 percent said it was safe for rinsing contact lenses, and 42 percent thought it was safe for cleaning respiratory devices.