Re: [at-l] Giardia's dirty little secret.

[tmcginnis@ucclan.state.in.us (Thomas McGinnis)]

     I'm sorry. I feel that everyone's having to muscle through this pee 
     contest in their email box is my fault.
     I've been responding privately (till now?) on an email factoid that I 
     prefaced with "I didn't commit this to memory, but..." and have 
     watched the (xxxxxxxxx) responses flow on since. I've even seen (from 
     XXXXXXXX) private correspondences returned publically -- so much for 
     trying to be less antagonistic.....
     
     At this point, I'll just say that there is NO evidence (original, 
     empirical, repeatable evidence) that giardia (or any OTHER pathogen) 
     is any MORE a backcountry threat now than one hundred years ago, but 
     there IS evidence that giardia is dead, dead, dead at temperatures 
     Muuuuuccchhh lower than boiling. 
     
     (Oh, ok: 122dF/95% mortality, 140dF/98% mortality, 158dF/100% 
     mortality, not after an hour, or twenty minutes, but HALF that, 10 
     lousey minutes. [Another source said 131dF, but provided no source.])
     
     (See fc.net/~tdeagan/water/one.html    It's a dry read for the laity, 
     but science IS that way sometimes. These people have no filters to 
     sell, nor malpractice premiums to watch; they just report cold, hard, 
     boring facts, without agenda. Read these to see where the other "fact" 
     sheets actually get their facts.)
     
     Now, my working hypothesis in all of this was to try and answer the 
     question I asked myself 10 years ago: Where'd all these water filters 
     come from, and as a certifiable gear weenie, do I wanna git me one 
     when I (one day) return to the fold of backpackers? The effort to 
     answer the first part led me to lots of promotional materials which 
     claimed pandemic rains of giardia and who-knows-what riddling the 
     unsuspecting backcountry travelors' innards.
     But none of what I saw in the promotional materials supported the 
     claim. OK, well, keep looking, keep shopping. But the more I shopped, 
     the more the giardia "explosion" became a given, WITHOUT SUPPORT, and 
     the less I shopped. Instead, I asked WHAT giardia?, and continued to 
     look for the elusive histological answer. I continue to search, AND 
     CONTINUE TO REMAIN OPEN TO DISCOURSE. (At least discouse related to 
     original findings, methods, etc.......!!!)
     
     The closest thing I've found is a cite from one of the papers at 
     fc.net., which implies NO CHANGE in conditions of giardia prevalence 
     since at least 1972. My hike was 1979; none of us had filters, iodide, 
     or pandemic rains of the squirts. How'd we survive? Luck of the Irish, 
     must be. (Plus-which, you got to eat a peck before you go, you know.)
     
     On a gathering follow-up, Warren Doyle termed filter carriers silly, 
     observing essentially the same thing as me: no need then (or very 
     LITTLE need, and WAY overblown), and no need now. Now, cold, hard, 
     boring science is not built on "I knew a guy who..." stories, but I 
     look at the good Professor Doyle and see a guy who hiked at least 
     twice before I did, again soon after, and since many more! While not 
     empirically recorded, it was original observation recorded WITHOUT 
     AGENDA (at least until filters became the "must have" item they are 
     now).
     
     On a methodological note, again, I remain open to discourse. But as a 
     sceptic (and one does not engage in research without being a sceptic), 
     my working question remains WITHER THE PROBLEM? I will not swallow 
     hype or hysteria intended for the gullible, by marketers intent on 
     selling us up in dollars and pounds. Those who challenge NonFilterites 
     as foolhardy do just that; they are lighter in the pocket, and heavier 
     in pack. Their working question attempts to prove a negative: WHAT, NO 
     PROBLEM? PAH! YOU'RE WRONG! AND STUPID, TO BOOT!
     
     When I pick up my kids tonight from daycare, I am doubley exposed to 
     the most prevalent method of giardia transmission in the United States 
     today, by a factor of (x) (an integer where 0<x<10). Filter in the 
     woods? Would that I was that risk averse, I would not be a daddy!
     
     Remember to wash your hands before you eat that crow, boys.
     
     
     
     


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: [at-l] Giardia's dirty little secret.     
Author:  rambleon@email.unc.edu (Jeremy Reiter) at ima
Date:    10/22/98 2:18 PM


Ern wrote: 
> On our weekend in the Whites, we met a thru-hiker (north to 
> south).  He had been off the trail for four days over a two 
> week period.
> 
> You guess it, Giardia.  Ironic, isn't it.  He had a filter, 
> but the water "looked" good.
> 
> They say... once you get it (Giardia), you won't hesitate to 
> use a filter at all sources.  I don't think it's worth the
> risk to be stupid once.
     
I don't usually speak up on the filter threads, but i feel compelled to say 
something here. I can take being called a lot of things, but stupid isn't one 
of them. While i'm sure you didn't mean for the last line to be taken in an 
insulting manner, it does kind of come across that way to me, since i sent my 
filter home in Tyro, VA and used iodine very infrequently after that. I don't 
consider myself, or any of the other thru-hikers who chose the same route, to 
be stupid, or even ignorant for that matter.  
     
Respectfully walking with light,
     
-Rambleon-
     
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