[pct-l] Water - it finally caught up with me

[Eric Lee]

Tortoise wrote:
>
What causes you to think your illness was due to contaminated water instead
of something you ate, either on the trail or afterward?
>

Of course it *could* have been anything.  That's the problem with the whole
topic of water quality: it's very difficult to be totally certain about
cause and effect in any one case and the only way to really study this stuff
is to look at statistical aggregates.

While not officially diagnosed, I know my symptoms were consistent with e
coli.  E coli has an incubation period of 2-8 days, with the average being
3-4.  I started my section hike on Saturday evening, finished in Ashland on
the following Friday afternoon, and was sick by Sunday.

I hiked alone and didn't share food with anyone in either direction while I
was out.  I ate a no-cook diet of non-perishable foods (nuts, dried fruit,
commercially-prepared jerky, energy bars, etc.).  It's pretty unlikely that
this was the source.  I ate prepared food at the Seiad Valley café, which
could have been the source, but it was all well-cooked so I don't consider
that to be terribly likely either.  I ate at a couple of different places in
Ashland afterwards but that was probably too close to the time I got sick to
be the source.

I know that livestock often contaminate water supplies with e coli.  I know
that the majority of the trail I walked this year ran through free-range
livestock areas.  Finally, I know that while I usually treated my water this
year, I didn't do it all the time and I knowingly took some risks.  This is
by far the most likely transmission route but it's impossible to say for
sure.

Eric