(Image Source: Amazon.com)

BY LAUREN ZIMA

ANCHOR CHRISTIAN BRYANT

Winter means stuffy noses, but would you rather have a stuffy nose or an infection in your brain? Doctors are now saying that improperly-used Neti pots have been linked to fatal brain-eating amoeba infections. WPVI has the story.

“An increasingly popular device known as Neti pot -- the Neti pot is commonly used to irrigate the sinuses. A salt solution is often used in the pot, but officials say many people make the mistake of dissolving the pot with tap water. Officials say tap water is not safe to use in the pots because it’s not sterile.”

KVUE spoke with a doctor.

DR. BRADLEY CHASTANT: “You use it, you put it up -- it’s wet and moist, and what things grow in there is incredible.”

The scary Neti pot news comes after two people died in Louisiana. KTVX explains.

REPORTER: According to Louisiana health regulators, two people there died after using tap water that was affected with the amoeba, the parasite penetrates the thin bone between your sinus and your brain, causing an infection.
DOC: Then you get meningities … basically a brain infection that’s lethal.

Lethal in almost all cases. TIME explains exactly how the the infection works -- though the writer points out that it’s exceedingly rare.

“Typically, Naegleria fowleri infection occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, particularly in summer in the southern U.S. Last summer, at least three other people died from Naegleria fowleri infection in Florida, Virginia and Kansas. The amoeba enters through the nose, travels to the brain and starts eating neurons ... it’s also exceedingly rare. In the 10 years from 2001 to 2010, only 32 infections were reported in the U.S.”

And The New York Daily News has tips for Neti pot lovers on how to stay safe.

“ …wash the pot regularly with hot water and a little antibacterial soap. … [and] Replace your pot. Get a new one every few months. The hot water and washing can cause the plastic to weaken over time.”