[pct-l] Sanitation

[Laura Fox]

(Just re-subscribed post-2008-thru-hike :)

I remember having a conversation about trail sanitation with a person who
had a medical background.  Somebody asked him if a person can get sick from
their own poor sanitation -- ie, basically, can you get sick from
accidentally eating trace amounts of your *own* poop because you didn't
sanitize your hands after going to the bathroom?  He said no, you can't.  I
don't know if this is true or not because I have no medical training, but if
it is true, then having good hygiene won't keep you from getting sick -- you
have to make sure that everybody you are hanging out with has good hygiene!




Message: 8
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 09:44:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: patti kulesz <peprmintpati88 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] SuperSecretes of Backpacking - Sanitation
To: pct-l at backcountry.net, Hiker97 <hiker97 at aol.com>
Cc: john.hannah at wgint.com, carolwbruno at yahoo.com
Message-ID: <874878.17664.qm at web50405.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

You're actually correct on that statement...more people get sick from
sanitation issues than contaminated water. For whatever reason, people seem
to forget that they still need to wash their hands when in the
wilderness....like all of a sudden our bowels are clean and
fresh...rriiiigght. I guess it's another thing to think about as well when
you are sharing a bite with your fellow hikers...do you know where their
hands have been?

patti