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

[kahley7 <kahley7@ptd.net>]

Tim Hewitt wrote:

> Thomas McGinnis wrote:
> [clip]
> >      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.
> [clip]
>
> I'm not sure what source what source you quote for this bit of rubbish, but
> you can bet both Giardia and Crypto are much more prevalent now in the
> "backcountry" then they were 100 years ago - or even 30 years ago.  If I must
> I can probably dig up the studies that were done in the 1980s in the Cascades
> of Washington state that tested water sources for human fecal contamination
> and found that over 80% of all water sources were contaminated at higher than
> Federal standards for drinking water.
>
> >      Remember to wash your hands before you eat that crow, boys.
>
> I can only tell you my personal experience - no "this guy said" or "that guy
> told me" stories.
>
> In the 1960s and 70s, I drank long and often from untreated water sources
> without any problems. If the water source "looked good" I drank from it.
>
> In the 1980s, I had a mild case of dysentery during an extended backpacking
> trip in the Olympics that I attributed to diet change. I'm not so sure now.
>
> In the 1990s, I have started treating my water, and on the few occasions I did
> not, I ended up with Giardia twice, diagnosed and treated - and other
> dysentery three times - unspecified cause, went away in two to three weeks
> without anything other than Imodium AD.
>
> Perhaps you are immune, or simply a carrier who shows no symptoms. I don't
> know. Are all the water sources on the AT fouled by human waste? Probably not.
> Am I willing to risk drinking untreated water based on my already proven
> susceptibility to water-borne bugs? Not a chance. To me the 15oz that my First
> Need weighs are a bargain.
>
> -Paddler (144 days and counting)
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