View Full Version : getting sick on the trail
I'm sitting at home,sicker than i've been in 10 years{flue ??}.While being bored watching Scooby Doo and Gilligans island,i started wondering?Do thru hikers get sick on the trail with the limitted contact the receive from the general public??
garlic08
02-25-2011, 18:27
I've never been sick on the trail, but I do tend to get a bad cold or something when I get back home. I figure it's the extra contact with people, public restrooms, door handles, etc. after months in a what I think is a cleaner environment.
I think people get sick mostly from poor hygiene, i.e. not washing hands. Bad water is easy to blame but not always the culprit. Use hand sanitizer liberally...
Jersey Tim
02-25-2011, 18:37
Different illnesses are more prevalent on the trail than off, because you're exposed to different transmission vectors. In my experience, it's rare for hikers to come down with rhinovirus or the flu because those tend to be spread by droplets, like from sneezes, or common surfaces, like doorknobs. On the other hand, roughing it means greater exposure to fecal-route pathogens like shigella and cryptosporidium if you're not diligent about handwashing, and unpurified water may carry giardia cysts, parasites and other unpleasant things that you typically don't have to worry about in civilization.
Slo-go'en
02-25-2011, 18:50
I picked up a wicked chest cold a couple of years ago which sent me home earlier than I had planned to. Over the years, I've meet a lot of hikers in the spring fighting off a cold or flu.
It's actually pretty easy to catch a cold or flu on the trail during the spring, since your often wet, cold, run down and not eating real well. Could be a bug already in your system just waiting for those conditions to happen, or you can pick it up from someone else, like I think I did. (Beer blast at Overmountian shelter with a bunch of collage kids, some of who were under the weather, and not from drinking).
Skidsteer
02-25-2011, 18:56
Different illnesses are more prevalent on the trail than off, because you're exposed to different transmission vectors...
I don't mind cell phones on the trail but I draw the line at transmission vectors. If all hikers could agree to leave their transmission vectors at home it would make the wilderness experience more enjoyable for everyone.
Graywolf
02-25-2011, 19:07
Ive never been sick out on any Trail. (Knock on wood). As others have said, its mostly the environment..
I use ot work in a clean room. I never was sick. once I was laid off and had to work in other envronments, those little viruses were just waiting for me.. It suxs..
Keep your self clean as possible, and pay attention to your surroundings..
didn't see many cases of flu or colds...but there was a nasty stomach virus or something going around called "Uncle Johnny's revenge" due to people geting sick near Erwin and/or southern Va. Had it for almost 7 days and it was not fun. Did get my mind off of hiking though!;)
Monkeywrench
02-25-2011, 20:10
I never had so much as a head cold during my thru-hike. I attribute this to a couple of factors:
- I used a hammock and did not carry a sleeping pad, so never slept in the shelters where I might have caught something from sleeping in close proximity to others
- I always waited until after eating my lunch to thumb through the shelter register, rather than doing so while eating
- I was just plain lucky
I think people get sick mostly from poor hygiene, i.e. not washing hands. Bad water is easy to blame but not always the culprit. Use hand sanitizer liberally...
Its said 15-30% of section hiker's experiance issues, 50% of thru-hiker's ... and it is traced to hand to mouth transfer's ... My number's could be off, open for debate .. but i know there close ... forget where i seen it brought up ... Getting sick can be defined as? ... The craps? .. Stuffy/runny nose? Fever/naseua? Flu? Common Cold?
I've yet to thru, but i have my share of 2-3 week trips at a time and i normally always experiance bowl problems ... but i've never gotten "sick" ... In fact, one time i remember i was sick as a dog at home and the weather turned nice an my brother an a few friends simply did a 5 mile in an out overnighter, and i felt 75% better till i returned home ... amazing what fresh air will do.
I'm with the consensus on this; on two long trails I haven't gotten anything like a cold or flu. Seems to me that my immune system is likely to be pretty strong when I'm in good shape. I did get something giardia-like on the AT last year, but that's a different type of "sick" altogether.
Lone Wolf
02-25-2011, 21:21
I'm sitting at home,sicker than i've been in 10 years{flue ??}.While being bored watching Scooby Doo and Gilligans island,i started wondering?Do thru hikers get sick on the trail with the limitted contact the receive from the general public??
avoid shelters, hostels, privys, sharing food etc. and you'll be fine
Blissful
02-25-2011, 21:31
I had a 24hr stomach bug once and a some scratch throat issues,but I take an Emergenc C packets with me and it knocks it out.
I saw many hikers get sick along the trail from various ailments. I've seen hikers who are sick, and foul their clothes, and ambitiously walk to the next available stream, or creek to wash the filthy stench from their attire.
runnergirl
02-26-2011, 14:00
Coincidentally, I too have been sick with the flu for the last two days. I wondered what would happen if I got so sick on the trai because I didn't move from my bed for nearly 24 hours (except to run to the bathroom!). From what I've read, diseases can be passed more easily from hand to mouth contamination. It's making me rethink what I take in terms of soap and hand sanitizer.
Two day's you say?Yep,i'm right there with you.My stomach hurts like i've done 2000 sit ups from coughing.I cant imagine being on the trail in this condition.
WingedMonkey
02-26-2011, 22:28
I don't get all this hand sanitizing in the woods. I hike alone, eat alone and unless I'm forced to use a privie that one of you has used, there's nothing on my hands that ain't already in me or on me. I'm more worried when I hit the off trail Taco Bell and if THEY washed their hands. On a bus or train home, sometimes I really wish I had a mask to wear. Thinking about adding one to my travel kit. I'm sure it's one way to keep a seat to myself LOL.:sun
Wise Old Owl
02-26-2011, 22:32
i don't mind cell phones on the trail but i draw the line at transmission vectors. if all hikers could agree to leave their transmission vectors at home it would make the wilderness experience more enjoyable for everyone.
Skidsteer that was funny!:D:D:D:D:D
blackbird04217
02-28-2011, 11:16
I got sick and I'm pretty sure it was from some stagnant water. I didn't have diarrhea or anything so interesting, but for a week I had very little energy, was carrying far too much food and it was taking too much effort to get myself to eat or even drink. Even took a zero day trying to recuperate.
Oddly, just before, and during this entire week I had been using the Steripen to treat my water. While before/after I would just drink without treating... I'm not saying treating is bad, absolutely not. But I found it to be an odd "coincidence".
Being sick on the trail was no fun at all. But like being sick at home, it passes and you just need to take care of yourself.
shaggy2004
03-01-2011, 01:47
Yes, people definitely get sick on the trail.
You aren't walking around in normal society encountering hundreds or thousands of strangers day to day but the people you do interact with on the trail you often interact with at a very intimate proximity. For instance,
-packing into a shelter like sardines on a cold night
-everyone using the same privy
-everyone thumbing through the shelter register
-passing around the GORP bag
-And IMHO, the biggest thing, hostels.
Don't get me wrong I'm so thankful for the hostels and the trail angels that run them. (OK, so some are straight up businesses, but still). However, it does become very difficult, particularly in peak hiker season, to keep things super sanitary in some of these places. I saw the same "Uncle Johny's Revenge" scenario happen in 2006 as described above and something like it probably happens most years.
The most obvious example I've seen of this was on the PCT this year. There aren't nearly as many folks hiking the PCT as the AT and there aren't nearly as many hostels but in southern CA everyone is grouped up and there is a short stretch of trail (about 3 - 4 days) with three "hostels" (really just some super nice peoples houses) that everyone stops at. When I was in Agua Dulce there were 50 other hikers in town and everyone was staying at the Saufley's... same thing the next night at the Anderson's... and then a couple nights later at Hiker Town.
Some stomach thing got started spreading around at the first place and then by the time the big group left Hiker Town it seemed like 2 out of 3 people were sick. OK, maybe not quite, but A LOT of people were sick.
So basically close quarters, everyone using the same bathroom, dishes getting washed on the honor system (maybe)... stuff spreads around. Again, I'm not saying even the first hint of something bad about the hostels and trail angels. I don't know what we'd do without them. Just saying you should keep in mind the pathogen spreading potential of the situation and act accordingly.
Firefighter503
03-01-2011, 17:57
I haven't been sick on the trail at all, but I will say that I have the worst chest cold I have ever had for going on 10 days. Finally starting to clear up. Coincidentally this is the first year I got a Flu shot (which I needed for Haiti). Hope I'm 100% by the time I start.