Yes there was a virus on the Trail last year. I got to Erwin a week before Trail Days and there were people with the virus there and a guy I was hiking with got sick hiking into town that day. A week later there were warnings about a virus and some people were sick in Damascus. I also encountered warning signs in the Whites in early August that there was a similar virus running from the Whites through Andover. Unfortunately you only have to let your guard down once to catch the thing. If hikers are too lazy to pack a few ounces of plastic or tinfoil out and feel the need to burn it you can imagine what they won't do when sick. I'm afraid if this virus is anything like last year's it will stick around for awhile. Last year the infected area seemed to move farther north as more hikers moved through the area. By the time I got to Maine I was hiking with people who had gotten sick in Rangeley which was past the supposed end in Andover. I honestly don't remember but I wonder if it could have anything to do with the number of people at the shelters with lack of privies. Pure speculation on my part.
Regarding personal hygiene, I was just thinking about a tip regarding public restrooms. It is recommended that after washing one's hands, people should use the paper towel to open the door on the way out, as some people do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. When hiking, I keep some hand sanitizer right in with my tp, but I never really thought about the privy door handle. Food for thought I guess.
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.
Any epidemic gastroenteritis is going to spread like wildfire in a crowded population with dodgy sanitation (such as you find at shelters in the thru-hiker bubble). There seems to be at least one outbreak a year on the Trail. That's also why you see it turning up in day care centers and nursing homes - other crowded populations with dodgy sanitation.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
It would be good to see an academic study of how these things occur each year and move up the trail.Sort of like the way flu starts in China every year and works its way around the globe. The study I posted earlier was from such and outbreak in 1999, but again just a specific outbreak. It would be interesting to see a study that spans several years, looks at several similar trails, dispells some of the myths or sensitivities surrounding word choice such as "stomach virus" vs "Norwalk-Like Virus" vs "Norwalk Virus", and perhaps the risk of one of these annual outbreaks becoming a more lethal variant. My guess, is that the concentration of people make such outbreaks an annual occurrence of varying severity, but it's not really an environment that lends itself to developing into a lethal resistant strain, like a hospital or nursing home, because it is outdoors, and the trail and towns have time to recover from one year to the next. Perhaps I am wrong, but in the grand scheme of things these outbreaks might even be healthy.
The other thread is closed folks, this one is essentially a do-over. Please don't junk it up again. Thanks, this is the second warning.
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.
Could you be more specific about what is junk? No personal attacks, I get that.
Anything else ?
I suppose the Jaws humour was in bad taste. Sorry about that.
Not you JAK, you're all rightOriginally Posted by JAK
. Junk=drama from the other thread. Folks need to put it to bed and stop rehashing it.
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.
IF it is Norovirus hand sanitizer may not work.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...ovirus-spread/Some viruses, like influenza, are coated in lipids, “envelopes” that alcohol can rupture. But non-enveloped viruses, like norovirus, are generally not affected.
The blog article is based on this study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19933337
The trouble I have with campfires are the folks that carry a bottle in one hand and a Bible in the other.
You never know which one is talking.
Seems like you could eliminate a great deal of the exposure to this virus by merely not staying in the shelters.
Thanks for the info, that is news to me.
Any idea if there ahead sanitizes that are utilize something besides alcohol that would be more effective?
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
I was thinking more generally (I was following along the other thread and saw that mentioned). Perhaps the severity is different in this case, but there are typically reports year to year of hikers passing along illnesses, particularly thruhikers, and these most likely vary.
If we could get some hikers to go to a doctor or a clinic, perhaps we'd have more insight on the pathogen.
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.
You should use the paper towel to turn the water off as well...you touched it with a dirty hand when you turned it on, as the person before you did.
Bet Uncle Johnny is making a fortune selling Germ X.
Should hostels and motels in the area be avoided also?
Seems like healthy individuals might want to avoid hostels and motels in the area also. Right now, anyway. Even if they are very clean, surely they will be attracting sick hikers for a while.
One thing I never thought of is that a room which is cleaned to the usual standard might be contaminated after the person leaves. Is that possible, or would that kind of thinking just be paranoid?
I'll post this again because it was an interesting read about an outbreak in 1999...
It's also to see the full article available for free. I don't mind the advertisements.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Norw...s).-a085920305
Wow,Jak sounds like a problem for sure.I guess with higher numbers of hikers it's hard to avoid this if you're out there....
The local weather forecast is for rain,possibly heavy at times starting Thursday night.Wonder if this will help wash some of the contaminated waste lying around away or at least dilute the virus?When will it be safe to enter the bio-hazard zone?....
Wow, thanks for all you do, Cleaner. What a true lover of the trail and true servant, you are. Be careful. I know you will... I guess just wait for more info on how to start to clean up everything. I just can't imagine what it must be like out there!
Stealth camp, spring water from off the trail, no hostels or hotels, no shelters or privies, walk to resupply and back to the trail, some folks prefer this way anyway............myself included.
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