RE: [pct-l] Giardiasis, filtering water....and crypto too

["Mayer, Jim" <JMayer@crt.xerox.com>]

You can check the NIH web site for authoritative info about Cryptosporidium
(http://www.nih.gov search for "Cryptosporidiosis").  Here is what I
remember.

(1) It is not killed by Chlorine or Iodine based water treatment.

(2) There is no effective treatment.

(3) Unless you have a compromised immune system it goes away after an
uncomfortable week or two.

(4) Any modern water filter should work just fine.  Municipal systems
apparently have trouble with it, but they process a LOT more water than a
personal filter.

It is apparently present in 60 to 70 percent of the surface water of the
United States (what that means I don't know... is it by volume, by body of
water, or by surface area?).  People with healthy immune systems can,
apparently, tolerate a low level of exposure without ill effects.

Interestingly, it wasn't recognized as a disease until 1976.  In 1993 there
was a major (400,000 person) outbreak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that got the
disease national attention.

-- Jim

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Corcoran [mailto:kevin@hughes.net]
 
> On a related note, anyone on this list knowledgeable about 
> Cryptosporidium?
> 
> There's been differing info circulated on effective water 
> treatment for
> crypto.  I read somewhere that it cannot be filtered out on 
> account of its
> tiny size.  The scariest thing I read is that once contracted 
> "it cannot be
> treated."   :-0   Does this mean that it's impossible to 
> eradicate from
> your system, that one must learn to live with its debilitating
> effects.....or merely that no practical, effective medication 
> currently
> exists to fight it, and that only the human body's imune 
> mechanisms can
> deal with it.....?
> 
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