[pct-l] Re: Thanks; precautions

["Joanne Lennox" <goforth@cio.net>]

In resonse to your question as to how I could have avoided the Giardia:
Leaving my filter at a creek was not helpful.  Fortunately, I always
carried Iodine (crystalline iodine in an aqueous solution).  Pigpen found
the filter, carried it ,and than found my note on the trail, and my address
in the Register, and sent it home.  The "found by pigpen" return address,
and lack of postage on the package competely mystified the postmaster and
my husband, who were speculating why I should have been near a pigpen in
the first place, let alone leave my filter there.  We all had a good laugh
when I explained that Pigpen was a person. (BTW, I spent a night with
pigpen near the Devils Peak Lookout and found him to be a delightful
person, and we share an interest in botany and biology.  He was actually
carrying a wildflower book and we were able to discuss various flower
identifications and sighting of plants both of us had never seen before. 
There was nobody else on the trail with which I was able to discuss
Botanical matters so this was a special meeting.  In addition there was
-after the lighting show died down -another spectacular light show, the
perseid meteor shower).

I did not treat all the water that I drank - I assumed that campground
water, and water issuing directly out of the ground was not contaminated. 
Spring water that I could not get to the immediate exit point from the
ground was filtered.  only once, did I drink from water that did not meet
these parameters  - when a filter was not available, and it was dark and I
was so dehydrated and exhausted that I knew I had to drink the water.

I think that I am very susceptible to Giardia, and each time that I get it
it seems to be worse.  When I always treat with Iodine, I have never gotten
it ( two of the five times I have had it, it was from the same Boulder
City, Utah Municple Water source, which I did not realize was
contaminated).  Jardine mentions using a filter and still getting sick; Jan
and Anna used a Pur Hiker for every drop they drank and they spent 10 days
in S. Lake Tahoe sick.  I have wondered about the effacacy of filters, and
the parameters of their use.  Everybody seems to think that they are 100%
effective in the range of cell sizes they filter for.  If the weave of a
paper filter were even slightly damaged either in manufacture or use, this
would drastically affect it performance. What is the quality control on
filters?  On Ice axes there are two types of Controls: One is a testing
program that checks the performance of that particular ice ax, the second
is a manufacturing standard that checks that the manufacturing process is
in fact producing an ice ax that is consistent with the one(s) that were
tested.  Is the same being done for water filters?

because these questions are relevant to the mailing list, I am sending
these questions and responses there as well.

Goforth

----------
> From: Peter Haskell <pchaskell@hotmail.com>
> To: goforth@cio.net
> Subject: Thanks; precautions
> Date: Sunday, August 22, 1999 8:59 AM
> 
> 
> 
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