[pct-l] Purell and Giardia

[Sean Nordeen]

Purell's Active incredient is alcohol not an antibiotic so it's use is not going to create a resistant superbug.  Also, as you rub your hands, it evaporates so I wouldn't worry about the effect on the local environment.

My concern about these Giardia debates is taking either extreme position.  Saying that all water in the backcountry has it is wrong.  Saying that it doesn't exist at all is wrong.  As an example, last year in the San Jacinto State park in long valley there is a spring fed pipe.  Some people have been drinking out of that pipe untreated for 20+years.  However, there was a "confirmed" case of Giardia from it last year.  Looking into it, I found out that pipe is fed from a catch tank that occasionally when the rangers clean it out, they find dead rats floating in it.  Anyone who has hiked the pristine Sierras for long has seen packhorses unloading themselves in the middle of a ford.  I feel sorry for the hiker who comes along a few minutes latter and drinks up just downstream.  Know your risks and be willing to pay the penalty if you are wrong.  But as stated, practice good hygeine and be selective in the water you drink and your risks are probably small.

That said, someone I know who was a missionary to India for awhile talked about the advice he was given by his doctor.  Most GI tracts have a 80% good to 20% bad bacteria balance.  Anti-biotics can mess that ratio up as both types rush to recolonize the tract.  He was told to take probiotic "good bacteria" supplements as a way of not allowing a place for bad bacteria to gain a foothold on his trip.  He was the only member of his team to return after 6 months who did not get dysentery of some sort from drinking the local water.  He attributes his higher resistance to those supplements and the yogurt that he ate liberally.

-Sean



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>Before I go off trail to do my business, I set out my soap and water
>at a convenient spot, like on a rock. Then when I come back I can
>quickly wash my hands without pawing thru lots of stuff in my pack.

>I am reluctant to be constantly using disinfectants both because of
>their potential to disrupt local microbial environment as well as
>maybe leading to disinfectant resistant germs.
>
>Tortoise