Giardia

[Tinker]

it's rare on the AT. i never treat or filter anything and never get sick

Not physically, at least -

Giardia is a good excuse for taking a few zero days.

As a section hiker I had to suffer with having it at home.

[Tinker]

Oh, btw: I got it off the AT in the White Mts. along the Pemigewassett river at one of the overused camps there back in the 1980s.

[mountainman]

I read that a survey done a couple yrs ago of thur hikers showed that about 11% did no water treatment. I rarely treat moving water unless it is around pastures.
JUST A THOUGHT, I grew up in NC mountains and I drunk wayter wherever I found it. I never lived where I had city treated water. Could that make person least likely to get sick?

[Tinker]

I read that a survey done a couple yrs ago of thur hikers showed that about 11% did no water treatment. I rarely treat moving water unless it is around pastures.
JUST A THOUGHT, I grew up in NC mountains and I drunk wayter wherever I found it. I never lived where I had city treated water. Could that make person least likely to get sick?

I don't know whether you can get immune to Giardia. It's not likely. I, as a young boy, used to have a fort in the woods at the edge of a cow pasture. The stream flowed right through the pasture. We didn't know any better so we drank right out of it. I didn't get sick any more frequently or experience any worse symptoms than before or after we used that stream.

One of the articles I read about Giardia and Cryptosporidia stated that, since the cysts are heavier than water, it's a good idea to get your water from a still pool in a stream rather than from the part of the stream with a current.
It made sense to me so I try to follow that logic whenever I get water for use untreated (as when boiling water for food or hot drinks - though boiling kills everything).
For those not treating or treating with chemicals, I think this is a good idea.

[garlic08]

...One of the articles I read about Giardia and Cryptosporidia stated that, since the cysts are heavier than water, it's a good idea to get your water from a still pool in a stream rather than from the part of the stream with a current....

Interesting. And I read once that sunlight will help sterilize the top few inches of stagnant water.

I guess this is turning into a water treatment thread--sorry, OP.

A quick web search shows immunity to giardia may be possible, and that up to 10% of Americans are carriers (probably including all the hikers, like me, who don't treat water). Which reminds me, I also read somewhere that people may have spread the disease to the much-maligned beavers.

[mountainman]

I don't know whether you can get immune to Giardia. It's not likely. I, as a young boy, used to have a fort in the woods at the edge of a cow pasture. The stream flowed right through the pasture. We didn't know any better so we drank right out of it. I didn't get sick any more frequently or experience any worse symptoms than before or after we used that stream.

One of the articles I read about Giardia and Cryptosporidia stated that, since the cysts are heavier than water, it's a good idea to get your water from a still pool in a stream rather than from the part of the stream with a current.
It made sense to me so I try to follow that logic whenever I get water for use untreated (as when boiling water for food or hot drinks - though boiling kills everything).
For those not treating or treating with chemicals, I think this is a good idea.

Thanks, I'll rethink the running verses still water logic