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



At 10:36 AM 3/9/03, Robert Ellinwood wrote:
>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...

In this one, YMMV really is the key word.

CDC data from a medium sized town that had it water system infected,
showed  that about 60% of those exposed to Giardia will have no symptoms.
About 30% will have mild symptoms, and about 10% will be "the sickest and
most miserable they have ever felt in their lives."

Surveys of Sierra Nevada water have shown that the municipal water supply
of San Francisco have a higher cyst count, and this level is well below
that required to get infected

Also, it appears that you are MUCH more likey to get Giardia from a fellow
hikers unwashed hands than you are from the water. USFS fire-fighting crews
eliminated Giardiasis by requiring use of hand sanitizers in their food lines.

This being said, by all means treat your water if it makes you feel more
comfortable. OTOH, it might be reasonable to not treat clean water and
carry Tinidazole in case you are in the 10%.

Also, there are lots of other nasties that can be in the water, so even
thought I have not filtered clean water for several years, there is still a
lot of stuff, especially in the desert, that I would chemically treat to
kill the bacteria.

Read this if you have any questions:
http://www.yosemite.org/naturenotes/Giardia.htm