Don't drink the water in NOLA ?

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/bra...t/?cid=hero_sf

not sure if this is for real or if Comcast has been conned.

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

I have a shout out to a friend who lives there. I'll report back when I hear from her.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I will be there in Oct not going to chance it, Not going to shower for 3 days

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

The brain eating amoeba is real enough, the infection method is legit, and the numbers of victims are about right (I think there've been three survivors, not just one). Plus there are numerous other articles from usually reliable sources when I google it. Looks legit to me.

Drinking it is actually not a problem -- apparently the stomach acids do the amoeba in -- it's inhaling it or otherwise getting it up into the sinuses that can kill you. People have infected themselves with them using Neti pots when they didn't use distilled or sterilized water, as is recommended. But most victims were swimming or splashing in a lake; that's supposedly one reason people aren't allowed to swim in the lakes at WDW (although gators are also an issue I suppose). I think this is the first case where someone has been infected with what was supposedly clean water from a water system. CBS suggests it may go back to Katrina -- so many people were gone and the water sat in the pipes with insufficient chlorination and and developed a good colony of the evil things.

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

wow....

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

It's like Legionnaire's Disease in water supply. You don't get Legionnaire's from drinking water. You get it when it's in a cooling tower, gets emitted with the mist, and then you inhale the mist into your lungs.

A water contaminated with this is safe to drink. but not to swim in or bathe in.

[Hoc Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Hoc]

Frank--

When in October? We'll be there from the 11th through the 18th.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

I've read about this brain eating amoeba over the last year or so. Freaks me out. I don't feel it's safe to swim in lakes and national parks anymore. Especially with the kids who get water up their noses all the time. People have been known to catch it in spas too!

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

I've read about this brain eating amoeba over the last year or so. Freaks me out. I don't feel it's safe to swim in lakes and national parks anymore. Especially with the kids who get water up their noses all the time. People have been known to catch it in spas too!

Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, called 'brain-eating' amoeba by the press , is an amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) named after our own Dr. Malcolm Fowler, a pathologist at the then Adelaide Children’s Hospital. It was discovered in our Morgan to Upper Spencer Gulf Pipelines.

The ablution habits of some victims were studied and involved entrance of the water into the nasal cavities -

Forcing tap water up the nostrils to clear a sinus problem.
Squirting water up the nose from a hose to remove salt water after swimming in the Spencer gulf .
Snorkelling in the bath.

I was on a business trip in Port Augusta in the early 1980's and recall my hotel swimming pool notice - "don't get water up your nose".

http://samhs.org.au/Virtual%20Museum...miningitis.htm

This current public health information sheet gives details on symptoms and how to avoid getting it.
http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/c...Meningitis.pdf

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Back in my college days my coursework included some training on recreational waters. At that time, circa 1970, it was well known that swimming in a properly operated swimming pool results in far less water related illness then swimming in the most pristine natural waters, with most of the difference related to ear-nose-eye infections. If the natural water is less than pristine the differences in infection rate increase almost exponentially. So if you want to minimize your chances of getting an infection when you vist your favorite ocean-front or lakefront resort, you're better off looking at the water on the beach, but swimming in the pool.

Of coourse, avoiding disease isn't the only consideration; I still go in the ocean when I'm in Hawaii because snorkeling in a swimming pool isn't really very appealing. And I do occasionally get ear infections afterward.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Frank--

When in October? We'll be there from the 11th through the 18th.

12 leaving on the 15 staying at the QH

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I see a herf in the planning.

[Hoc Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Hoc]

I think we need to get together one evening for a night of carousing. . . . I'll have my business partner with me, but he's cool. Will you have the wife and kid?