170
Donβt use unsterilized tap water to rinse your sinuses. It may carry brain-eating amoebas
(www.sciencenews.org)
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
170 points (95.2% liked)
Public Health
377 readers
1 users here now
For issues concerning:
- Public Health
- Global Health
- Health Systems & Policy
- Environmental Health
- Epidemiology
- etc.
π©Ί This community has a broader scope so please feel free to discuss. When it may not be clear, leave a comment talking about why something is important.
Related Communities
- Medical Community Hub
- Medicine
- Medicine Canada
- Premed
- Premed Canada
- Public Health (π)
See the pinned post in the Medical Community Hub for links and descriptions. link ([email protected])
Rules
Given the inherent intersection that these topics have with politics, we encourage thoughtful discussions while also adhering to the mander.xyz instance guidelines.
Try to focus on the scientific aspects and refrain from making overly partisan or inflammatory content
Our aim is to foster a respectful environment where we can delve into the scientific foundations of these topics. Thank you!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
One PPM of chlorine is enough to kill most amoeba in about 10 mins.
If amoeba can survive in tap water where you are at, you probably shouldn't drink the water without filtering and boiling it first anyway.
Also, get some multi-chemical water test strips as well. While those don't tell the full story, they can be useful if deciding to have your water tested at a lab. (Test strips a decent enough at detecting chlorine, some metals, salts, etc. I don't know if they exist, but detection of disolved gasses, like natural gas, would be a huge plus if you live in an area that has a lot of oil drilling.)
Everyone should spend at least a few bucks to know what they will be drinking at home on a regular basis, IMHO.
Hah. I've been swimming in freshwater lakes, rivers, and reservoirs for about 65 years. Ain't nothin' takin' me down.
Also a former water treatment plant operator, so I should probably not be quite so complacent. :)
Some places are worse than others, from what I understand. Also, I haven't had an issue with my brain being eaten after years of swimming in freshwater sources.
The above paper was about a place in Pakistan, so who knows what their water is like..
I'm more concerned about e coli levels than amoeba. But Lord only knows what gets into the South Saskatchewan River system and what grows vigorously once the water slows down in Lake Diefenbaker.
At least I've stopped swimming in the runoff sloughs in cattle pastures. (Kids are all kinds of stupid!)
I miss being a kid in the country, sometimes. The stupidity was never ending and the risk->reward function always paid massive dividends.
TBH, we had super clean water where I grew up and there were bigger risks than getting covered in cow shit, which did happen on occasion. (My best friend at the time got his hands on some blasting caps one weekend. We probably weren't much older than 12 or 13 at the time....)
Sorry for the tangent. This conversation kicked up more nostalgia than I expected.
No problem.
Heh! You had blasting caps, we had carbide (my grandfather was still running an acetylene generator in his welding/machine/mechanic shop).