Nov 29 - Dr. Joseph Falkinham Webinar

The organizers of the Nov 29 webinar welcomes questions in advance. Please send your questions to ntmmail@ntminfo.org by November 18, 5:00pm EST. These are the questions that I sent:
1. We need to boil water for 10 minutes to kill NTM. You suggest that electric kettles are far superior in killing bacteria. However, electric kettles shut off immediately after coming to a roiling boil. Once the electric kettle shuts off after reaching a roiling boil, is that sufficient to kill NTM? Or would you suggest bringing the kettle to a roiling boil several times?
2. I have an on-demand electric water heater. I’ve turned the temperature up to 138 degrees. You state that in theory, the NTM in the heated water has a short residence insufficient for growth. But for NTM that lives in showerheads and the biofilm in the plumbing, are they killed instantaneously at 138 degrees as the water passes through the pipe and showerhead?
3. So as not to be scorched, a person cannot take a shower at the full 138 degrees and must mix the hot water with cold water. I am assuming that NTM will be killed in a water heater tank that is at a constant 138 degrees. So when it comes through the showerhead, the NTM would be dead and mixing the hot with the cold water to shower comfortably would be fine. But what about a tankless on-demand water heater?
4. When we disinfect showerheads in bleach or distilled vinegar for 30 minutes, how often should we do this? Monthly, every three months?
5. Can NTM be killed at low temperatures? Such as in the refrigerator freezer?
6. Should we brush our teeth or wash our face only in boiled water?
7. Can Dr. Falkinham's team test the effectiveness of baby bottle sterilizers such as Wabi Electric Steam Sanitizers and Dryer or Medela quick clean micro-steam bags (used in microwaves) in killing NTM?

Looking forward to the answers! Thanks Heather

So sorry I missed this. Can anyone share what they learned?

I also was planning on watching it but..... Is there somewhere we can watch it?

Ntmir webinaires are recorded so you will he able to see it later on their YouTube channel.

Dr. Falkinham covered the usual topics - shower heads, safe water, etc in his talk. Unfortunately because the questions came in ahead of his talk he covered them all again during the q and a.

I did learn that my evaporative humidifier is safe so I will set it up soon. Otherwise I already knew pretty much everything he said. I've watched him before and belong to several groups but I'm sure newbies learned a lot ftom this webinair.

I tuned in late so I missed most of the talk given by Dr. Marras who is a medical doctor. (Dr. Falkinham is a PhD scientist and an expert on mycro organisms). What I did hear Dr Marras say was that in two studies, one at Tyler and one in South Korea, the antibiotics we take "cure" 70 -80% (didn't catch the exact numbers) which, while not great, is better than some numbers I have heard before. "Cure" means having negative sputum samples for a year after treatment has stopped

He may have talked about recurrence earlier but that's all I was able to hear of his part of the presentation.

I hope others who tuned in will share what they learned.

Thanks Rits! I was wondering what his comments were regarding boiling water for 10 minutes vs using an electric kettle.

Ten minutes plus one extra minute for each ? feet over sea level. Sorry I don't remember how many feet for each minute. Frankly, the idea that just bringing water to a boil and then turning the kettle off would kill bacteria never made any sense to me. His answer to boiling water was the 10 minutes plus rule.

That's what I remember. Someone else who listened in may remember something else.

He didn't answer the question about electric kettles and roiling boils.

I remember a while ago that he talked about an electric kettle boil compared to the boil reached in a pot of water on a wood stove. I have not ever heard him compare boiling in an electric kettle to boiling in a tea kettle on a gas or electric stove or how long the water in an electric kettle must boil to kill the ntm's.

He sometimes doesn't get the question we really want answered. For example, in his talk and then again in the q and a, he talked about how the bacteria get into openings in children's mouths when the dentist pulls their teeth. While interesting, the questions asked had to do with how safe is the dentist's water during a visit by those of us adults with an ntm infection. I know there are patients who bring their own water to the dentist or skip their check ups because of fear of the water there so this is important to them.

He is so great at participating in these talks and even answering questions directly from us patients living with these bacteria in our lungs. But I remind myself that he is not a medical doctor accustomed to dealing with patients who live with these bacteria in our lungs. Instead he is a research scientist and a professor who teaches future scientists. Jmo.

I'm sorry he didn't answer your question about the electric kettle. Did he answer any of the other questions you asked? I hope you will share what you learned from the webinair.