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NOT SO LIGHTLY PLEASE!! Re: [pct-l] Giaradia Hype



FWIW, in 1985 just before Cottonwood Pas, I met Marie Toombs, who was
running a Wilderness School. She had hiked the PCT in 1980 and said that
in the process she had gotten giardiasis and that it was the sickest and
most miserable she had ever felt in her life.   YMMV...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-
> admin@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Richard
> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 12:13 PM
> To: Montedodge@aol.com; pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: NOT SO LIGHTLY PLEASE!! Re: [pct-l] Giaradia Hype
>
> I disagree very strongly.  Until you have seen/experienced the disease
> it is not to be compared to instant oatmeal or poptarts!! (Besides I
> did not carry poptarts as the W/E ratio is very high!)
>
> Giardia makes you terribly sick for 2-3 months with diarehea(sp),
> vomiting,
> serious fluid loss and can be deadly if you do not get care as your
> immune system is weakened and you get caught in a storm in that
condition
> you are a **lot** more subject to hypoethermia and possible cold bugs,
> etc.
>
> I recommend everyone do a google on Giardia and read several of the
many
> links themselves.  25 years ago there have been 1-2 cases a year in
> BOTH the sierra and Rockies and AT! Now, even the Rangers have gotten
> it all too regulary becasue they thought they were immune and had
their
> little "secret" watering ponds that were "safe"!!!
>
> Humans go everywhere these days upstream it seems and don't always
> practice good cat-hole policy and procedures so almost all streams
> are contaiminated.
>
> After seeign Ranger Susan sick I don't need a fitler company to
> tell me to filter water!!! 6 ozs and $75.00 for a good .1-.02 micron
> filter is worth it to me...or if I've got extra fuel a 5 min boil,\
> both far "cheaper" to me than 2 months being laid up!
>
> Only My Humble Opin and One Man's Thru Hike Experience.
>
> Richard
>
>
> At 10:45 AM 3/9/03 EST, Montedodge@aol.com wrote:
> >--
> >[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> > We've been told for the last 15 years that Giaradia is a plague left
> over
> >from the Egyptian times with Moses and that any hiker needs to treat
> their
> >water from this or face a fate worse than death!!
> >   I am happy that this month's Backpacker Mag. wrote what I always
> believed(
> >Page 83 , April 03) Giardia is so common that it was once thought to
be a
> >normal resident of the human intestinal tract. Many people have a
natural
> >immunity. If you drink treated water from a big city your whole life,
you
> >probably are not immune. BUT if you you had well water as a kid  and
> drank
> >pond water most your life, your might be immune!! Don't know of many
> >thru-hikers on the PCT that finish their trip with a water filter in
> their
> >pack.
> >     Yes , you can still get sick from other "Gooddies" in your water
,
> but
> >giaradia  is as common as instant oatmeal and poptarts on the trail
and
> is a
> >boggie man sponsored by the filter industry.
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> >
> >
>
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