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The Latest Word from Dr Honda on Sterilizing & Boiling

Posted by Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn, Sep 19 4:34pm

Presented today at the NJH NTM & Bronchiectasis: Patient & Family Conference!

Boiling tap water at a rolling boil for 5 minutes is plenty - tested in 10 labs across the country in January & June, at a variety of elevations. The water remains sterile at room temperature for up to 2 weeks in sanitized containers. Tap water was inoculated with multiple strains of NTM. (By 3 minutes all bacteria was gone, except M xenopii took 5 minutes.)

Boiling, the microwave sterilizers, baby bottle sterilizers, and travel pots - ALL WORK!

Purified spring water is safest. Some bottled waters contain varying levels of NTM, but none were MAC or Abscessus - they were the ones considered not to be human infection risks.

There is more about cleaning showerheads & household disinfectants, but I don't have time to cover it now.

The bottom line - we don't need to worry so much...

The slide deck is too large to download, I will work on it later.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the MAC & Bronchiectasis Support Group.

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wabashacabin | @wabashacabin | Oct 4 1:15pm
In reply to @sueinmn "@nanaa85co How (or whether) to sterilize drinking water is an individual decision. I choose to use..." + (show)
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@nanaa85co How (or whether) to sterilize drinking water is an individual decision.
I choose to use a 0.2 micron filter water setup at my kitchen tap in place of boiling; I carry that water with me around home and in my car, and use bottled spring water other times. BUT, I do not have any evidence of GERD, so am not fanatical about it. I drink brewed tea/coffee/mixed beverages away from home - it has worked for me for over 8 years with no reinfection.

I do use my filtered water for washing/rinsing equipment, fruit, vegetables, etc. I use distilled water to boil my equipment to sterilize it (it doesn't leave mineral deposits on stuff.) Here is a description of the filter system we customized, and have used for years:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/possible-new-diagnosis/
If you choose to boil water for
washing equipment and drinking, bring it to a roiling boil in a pot or kettle, boil 5 minutes, then pour it into sanitized containers and cap them. Water remains safe for at least 2 weeks based on Dr Honda's tests that were reported yesterday at the conference.

You do NOT need to preboil the water that will be used to sterilize your equipment in a steamer, baby bottle sterilizer, or pan - the process will kill any bacteria.

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@sueinmn
I use a Lifestraw water system. My MAC Dr. recommended it. I use the large container that's fits in my fridge and has two filters. The main large one gets changed once a year and the small one gets changed about every two months or 40,000 gallons of water. Have no problems with it at all and easy to use.

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juliea55 | @juliea55 | Oct 5 1:14pm

Sue, thank you for the information. You have cut my boiling time in half!

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mwturner | @mwturner | Oct 5 3:15pm

As a maater of correction, the carbon filter should be changed approximately every 2 months or 40 gallons, NOT 40,000.

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thorne | @thorne | Oct 8 10:11am

@sueinmn The part that was most confusing for me (because she went so quickly) was the bottled water slide. The brands were just labeled as numbers. Do you know where we get the key so we can actually see the brands and how they tested? Do you know if the hosts of the conference will be posting that slide with the key anywhere or will NTMir? Or should we try reaching out to her?
Thanks, Tamara

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Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Oct 8 10:53am
In reply to @thorne "@sueinmn The part that was most confusing for me (because she went so quickly) was the..." + (show)
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@sueinmn The part that was most confusing for me (because she went so quickly) was the bottled water slide. The brands were just labeled as numbers. Do you know where we get the key so we can actually see the brands and how they tested? Do you know if the hosts of the conference will be posting that slide with the key anywhere or will NTMir? Or should we try reaching out to her?
Thanks, Tamara

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@thorne I would suggest trying to reach out to Dr Honda directly. Because I use my own filtered water, it is not something I thought about.

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thorne | @thorne | Oct 8 11:47am

Thanks Sue - I will. I also used my own filtered water 90% of the time, but there are times where I don’t have a water bottle with me or we are in a restaurant where a water bottle is not really appropriate and I would like more information about the types of water that are safe to buy and drink in those situations.

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nygirl4159 | @nygirl4159 | Oct 8 12:15pm

I thought distilled water was best?

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scoop | @scoop | Oct 8 4:05pm
In reply to @thorne "@sueinmn The part that was most confusing for me (because she went so quickly) was the..." + (show)
Profile picture for thorne @thorne

@sueinmn The part that was most confusing for me (because she went so quickly) was the bottled water slide. The brands were just labeled as numbers. Do you know where we get the key so we can actually see the brands and how they tested? Do you know if the hosts of the conference will be posting that slide with the key anywhere or will NTMir? Or should we try reaching out to her?
Thanks, Tamara

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@thorne
Agree with you! Plus, there was conflating of purified water and spring water.

For now, I'm sticking to spring water when Life Straw or boiled water are not available.

I suspect Dr. Honda does not want to endorse any particular brands of bottled water, which is why they were left out.

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scoop | @scoop | Oct 8 4:07pm
In reply to @nygirl4159 "I thought distilled water was best?" + (show)
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I thought distilled water was best?

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@nygirl4159
Personally, I use distilled water to boil my equipment. I do not drink it. I use previously boiled tap water to rinse my nose. That was another confusing bit in the presentation, when one of the doctors said distilled water was best for nasal rinsing. Maybe he meant previously boiled distilled?

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Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Oct 8 7:06pm
In reply to @thorne "Thanks Sue - I will. I also used my own filtered water 90% of the time,..." + (show)
Profile picture for thorne @thorne

Thanks Sue - I will. I also used my own filtered water 90% of the time, but there are times where I don’t have a water bottle with me or we are in a restaurant where a water bottle is not really appropriate and I would like more information about the types of water that are safe to buy and drink in those situations.

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@thorne You could also relax and take the position taught to me by my friend Linda, that I have come to embrace. Drinking filtered water 90% of the time is "good enough" - relax and order whatever you want when you go out to eat.

Since NTM is everywhere, and we can't control every aspect of our lives, in my humble opinion this falls into the realm of risks that we accept to live a normal life.

Dr Honda also espouses this approach - control what you can and let the rest go.

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