[pct-l] CDC recommendations for water treatment

[jcil000-pctchat at yahoo.com]

The following recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are 
useful in 

the avoidance of infection by Cryptosporidium. 

To avoid Crypto infection, they advise the following:

1)  That the use of water filters which  an “absolute one micron” filter, or a 
filter   certified to remove Cryptosporidium under NSF International Standard   
#53 or #58 for either “cyst removal” or “cyst reduction” be used. (see A Guide 
to Water Filters for more   information.
           
2) That Cryptosporidium is poorly inactivated by chlorine or iodine   
disinfection.***
***The product sold by REI called "Potable Aqua / Chlorine Dioxide Water 
Purification Tablets" claims effectiveness in four hours.
The down side to this product is that it "causes irreversible eye damage" if the 
user gets residue into his/her eyes.

3) That boiling at a rolling boil for 1 minute (at altitudes greater than 6,562 
feet   (>2,000 m), boil water for 3 minutes) 

is recommended.

4)  Cryptosporidium is not killed by alcohol gels and hand sanitizers.

5)   Ultraviolet light treatment of water is not effective   against 
Cryptosporidium at normally-used levels. i.e. Steri Pen type products.

CDC web links below:

http://www.cdc.gov/crypto/gen_info/filters.html

http://www.cdc.gov/crypto/health_professionals/bwa/dialysis.html

If I made a mistake in transcribing this information for my hiking friends, 
please post corrections but I think I've summed up their information.

Also, in closing, the weblink shows wording by manufacturers which might be 
misleading while reading a product label. Be sure to read that
CDC warning.