[pct-l] Giardia Lamblia and Giardiasis

[Mike Saenz]

Good article!
Reminds me of the article BP Mag issued a while back.

It's interesting to me that Giardia is THE bug that people cite when
this subject comes up. There are plenty more (and nastier) out there
than Giardia.
But the good news (IMO) is that the quantities of these bugs present in
your typical water source is way less than what it will take to get you
sick (again, IMO).

So, will I leave my filter at home? Probably not.

Another interesting thing: How many of you really clean your filters and
store them in the freezer, as recommended? I've been told that the
residual moisture left inside a filter can, itself, become stagnate and
harbor and grow bugs! I know I just pump and stuff it back in it's bag
until the next time I use it.

I remember all to well a bout with "Montezuma's Revenge" after a trip to
Puerto Vallarta. I don't know which bug I got (and I was VERY careful to
drink only bottled beer!), and I was so sick I was stupid in that I
didn't go see a doctor, even though I fought it for a month. But that
was most miserable month in my entire life. A week was spent flat on my
back in bed with frequent and panicked "crawls" on my hands and knees to
the bathroom (sorry for the visual). I never want to experience that
again...


Michael Saenz ,  Associate Partner
McLarand    Vasquez    Emsiek   &   Partners,   Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e  |  P l a n n i n g  |  I n t e r i o r s
MVE          MVE    Institutional         MVE    S t u d i o
w  w  w   .   m  v  e   -   a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s   .   c  o m

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of
csxii at schizoaffective.org
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 5:55 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Giardia Lamblia and Giardiasis

Giardia Lamblia and Giardiasis
With Particular Attention to the Sierra Nevada
By Robert L. Rockwell	June 4, 2003 
[PDF version] 

 
	
Figure 1.  Trophozoite Emerging from Cyst[1] 	Figure 2.  Trophozoite
Undergoing Division1

Introduction

Ask the average outdoors person about Giardia lamblia, and they have
certainly heard about it.  Almost always, however, they are considerably
misinformed about both the organism's significance in wilder-ness water
and the seriousness of the disease, giardiasis, if contracted.

The amount of information easily found on the subject is voluminous.
Unfortunately, almost all of it is flawed in important aspects, being
unsubstantiated, anecdotal or speculative.  Official informational
publications put out by the United States government are far from immune
to this criticism.

This paper is the result of a critical distillation of relevant
articles, retaining only those from scholarly, peer-reviewed, or
otherwise professional and trustworthy sources.

One conclusion of this paper is that you can indeed contract giardiasis
on visits to the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada, but it almost
certainly won't be from the water.  So drink freely and confidently.
Proper personal hygiene is far more impor-tant in avoiding giardiasis
than treating the water.

(more)
http://lomaprieta.sierraclub.org/pcs/articles/giardia.asp
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