diff --git a/ripser.cpp b/ripser.cpp
index bdcd249..8e2edcb 100644
--- a/ripser.cpp
+++ b/ripser.cpp
@@ -835,6 +835,32 @@ template <typename T> T read(std::istream& input_stream) {
 	return result;
 }
 
+template <typename T> bool next_value_stream(T& s, value_t& next_value) {
+	value_t value;
+	std::string tmp;
+	bool valid = false;
+
+	if (s >> value || !s.eof()) {
+		/* Any input stream fails to convert correctly when Inf or NaN is
+		 * present, this checks if it encounters this kind of values
+		 * if stof fails to find any valid convertion, it throws an
+		 * invalid_argument exception*/
+		if (s.fail()) {
+			s.clear();
+			s >> tmp;
+			next_value = std::stof(tmp.c_str());
+		} else {
+			next_value = value;
+		}
+
+		/* This check prevent encountering any zero values in distances matrices */
+		if (next_value != 0) valid = true;
+	}
+
+	s.ignore();
+	return valid;
+}
+
 compressed_lower_distance_matrix read_point_cloud(std::istream& input_stream) {
 	std::vector<std::vector<value_t>> points;
 
@@ -892,10 +918,7 @@ sparse_distance_matrix read_sparse_distance_matrix(std::istream& input_stream) {
 compressed_lower_distance_matrix read_lower_distance_matrix(std::istream& input_stream) {
 	std::vector<value_t> distances;
 	value_t value;
-	while (input_stream >> value) {
-		distances.push_back(value);
-		input_stream.ignore();
-	}
+	while (next_value_stream(input_stream, value)) { distances.push_back(value); }
 
 	return compressed_lower_distance_matrix(std::move(distances));
 }
@@ -903,10 +926,7 @@ compressed_lower_distance_matrix read_lower_distance_matrix(std::istream& input_
 compressed_lower_distance_matrix read_upper_distance_matrix(std::istream& input_stream) {
 	std::vector<value_t> distances;
 	value_t value;
-	while (input_stream >> value) {
-		distances.push_back(value);
-		input_stream.ignore();
-	}
+	while (next_value_stream(input_stream, value)) { distances.push_back(value); }
 
 	return compressed_lower_distance_matrix(compressed_upper_distance_matrix(std::move(distances)));
 }
@@ -918,10 +938,7 @@ compressed_lower_distance_matrix read_distance_matrix(std::istream& input_stream
 	value_t value;
 	for (int i = 0; std::getline(input_stream, line); ++i) {
 		std::istringstream s(line);
-		for (int j = 0; j < i && s >> value; ++j) {
-			distances.push_back(value);
-			s.ignore();
-		}
+		for (int j = 0; j < i && next_value_stream(s, value); ++j) { distances.push_back(value); }
 	}
 
 	return compressed_lower_distance_matrix(std::move(distances));