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Re: [at-l] Water filter

Clines wrote:
[clip]
> I dont know that any filter has a sulution for that. But then I've not
> examined all filters that closely. My PUR scout is the same way. I have
> never worried about it as the way I figure so what if a few nasty germs get
> in the water. I think it takes alot to make you sick. They have to
> overwhelm your system. I maybe wrong about that . I am no biologist but I
> have never gotten sick even with a lowered white blood count.

The First Need has a cap that covers the bottom of the filter - the place
where the canister screws on a Nalgene bottle or water bag (two different sets
of threads of different sizes).  It only snaps over the outer dimension of the
canister, so I don't know how secure it will stay. Only time will tell.

As for how many nasties it takes you make you sick, it doesn't take many. I'm
no Doctor, but on one canoe trip a number of years ago one told me that
Giardia will multiply at a rate of 10,000 new cysts a day in the intentines of
a host. This is one of the reasons it is now so wide spread. His theory is
that it's not mass human contamination that has spread Giardia, but simply
improper hygene. A single infected camper in a single season can - according
to him - infect every water source he passes by. If he is symptomatic and has
constant diareah, the spread is even worse, since he is expelling cysts at an
alarming rate over potentially a very large area.

-Paddler
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