[at-l] Virus in Water

[jbkramer@afn.org (Bryan Kramer)]

Who could argue with a blanket statement like "There are hordes of
viruses, bacteria, one-celled 
organisms and parasites that live in natural bodies of water" But what
natural waters? A filthy creek in suburban East St Louis? Or a mountain
creek in Idaho? And what are this fellows qualifications? He could be a
psychiatrist or a cosmetic surgeon specializing in rhinoplasty, a MD
doesn't make you an expert on everything. 

Of course there are all sorts of microorganisms in water, the question
is: are there enough pathogens to make you ill if you drink it. We
evolved to coexist with these critters, people drank out of mud puddles
for millennia before engineers developed public water supplies. I think
there are two types of people, those who believe that their bodies are
delicate mechanisms easily put into dangerous disarray and those who
know that we a darn tough species who have the ability to deal with most
environmental challenges without any effects. That later view is
strongly supported by the evidence since we swarmed over the entire
planet before modern medicine and engineering showed up.

Bryan

> 
> Going back to Orange Bug's argument against carrying a filter 
> that will 
> filter viruses from water(First Need Deluxe,for example), an 
> article in the 
> April 13, 2002 St. Louis Post Dispatch by Paul Donohue, M.D. 
> states and I 
> quote "There are hordes of viruses, bacteria, one-celled 
> prganisms and 
> parasites that live in natural bodies of water". Could those 
> who stated that 
> there are no viruses in AT waters be wrong?
> John Carnahan
> jac_150@hotmail.com