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POP QUIZ


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  • #1309345
    Aaron Sorensen
    BPL Member

    @awsorensen

    Locale: South of Forester Pass

    Pop quiz.

    What is the number 1 way (and how) does someone get Giardia
    I will give 1 clue a day and only answer in if someone gets it right.
    I'm sure people will reply with the correct answer by day 2 but the correct answer must contain the (HOW).

    Clue #1

    It's not from drinking contaminated water.

    Clue #2

    The more people that hike with you, the better the chance of getting it.

    Clue #3

    You don't get it from you, but yet in the end you do.

    Clue #4

    Yes, others give it to you by not washing after going. You then get it on you, but the #1 way of giving it to yourself is not by putting "your fingers" or food you touched in your mouth, but in your…

    Quiz is done. Nobody got it right.

    The #1 reason is from other people's fecal matter. The how was that it spreads from their hands/ fingers to yours and then you pick your nose.

    #2040018
    Franco Darioli
    Spectator

    @franco

    Locale: Gauche, CU.

    Feces to mouth contamination

    #2040022
    Ozzy McKinney
    Spectator

    @porcupinephobia

    Locale: PNW

    Yup, the old fecal/oral route would be my guess. I was just watching "Flip Flop Flippin" about the AT, and there is a scene where everyone is digging their hands in a communal trailmix bag… barf.

    #2040040
    Ken Thompson
    BPL Member

    @here

    Locale: Right there

    Causes
    By Mayo Clinic staff
    Giardia parasites live in the intestines of people and animals. Before the microscopic parasites are passed in stool, they become encased within hard shells called cysts, which allows them to survive outside the intestines for months. Once inside a host, the cysts dissolve and the parasites are released.

    Infection occurs when you accidentally ingest the parasites. This can occur by swallowing contaminated water, by eating contaminated food or through person-to-person contact.

    Swallowing contaminated water
    The most common way to become infected with giardia is after swallowing contaminated water.

    Giardia parasites are found in lakes, ponds, rivers and streams worldwide, as well as in municipal water supplies, wells, cisterns, swimming pools, water parks and spas. Ground and surface water can become contaminated from agricultural runoff, wastewater discharge or animal feces. Children in diapers and people with diarrhea may accidentally contaminate pools and spas.

    Eating contaminated food
    Giardia parasites can be transmitted through food — either because food handlers with giardiasis don't wash their hands thoroughly or because raw produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water. Because cooking food kills giardia, food is a less common source of infection than water is, especially in industrialized countries.

    Person-to-person contact
    You can contract giardiasis if your hands become contaminated with fecal matter — parents changing a child's diapers are especially at risk. So are child care workers and children in child care centers, where outbreaks are increasingly common. The giardia parasite can also spread through anal sex.

    #2040041
    Buck Nelson
    BPL Member

    @colter

    Locale: Alaska

    What do you mean by "people?" Makes a big difference if the person is 2 years old in a day care center or a backpacker.

    No one knows for sure the break-down of how people are getting giardiasis in the backcountry. There have been several studies showing a link between untreated water from lakes and streams and giardiasis. I don't know of any showing a DIRECT link between dirty backpacker hands and giardia, yet it undoubtedly happens.

    Regardless, it's a false choice. Dirty water and dirty hands commonly make people sick.

    And Ken Thompson, good for you for quoting the Mayo Clinic.

    #2040047
    Aaron Sorensen
    BPL Member

    @awsorensen

    Locale: South of Forester Pass

    Franco is not correct.

    It is not the #1 way.

    He also did not answer the "HOW" part.

    #2040147
    Dena Kelley
    BPL Member

    @eagleriverdee

    Locale: Eagle River, Alaska

    This is why I don't let people touch my food with their hands. Way too many people go to the bathroom and don't clean their hands afterward. Frankly I'm surprised it's more of a problem on the trail than in town because all the time I see people come out of a bathroom without washing their hands.

    #2040163
    Aaron Sorensen
    BPL Member

    @awsorensen

    Locale: South of Forester Pass

    Still no "correct" answer.

    #2040180
    Ian
    BPL Member

    @10-7

    Spontaneous poop fights?

    #2040189
    Dave T
    Member

    @davet

    #2040209
    Tommy Nelson
    BPL Member

    @snowfugger

    Locale: San Diego

    Swimming at a local pool? Swallowing water infected with the parasite while swimming either at a lap pool or community pool?

    #2040297
    Desert Dweller
    Member

    @drusilla

    Locale: Wild Wild West

    Sharing food.

    #2040299
    Franco Darioli
    Spectator

    @franco

    Locale: Gauche, CU.

    "He also did not answer the "HOW" part."
    Sorry, I forgot there is no APP for this as yet.
    You have a crap , then wipe your bum and either don't wash your hands or don't wash them well enough.
    Keep in mind that we here are all VERY clean, I am talking about others.
    You then get that bag of peanuts out and proceed to eat them. Note that you will at some point touch your mouth with you hands (others (one)will touch…)
    Now because you (one is) a nice guy , you share your peanuts and cysts with others.

    #2040352
    Buck Nelson
    BPL Member

    @colter

    Locale: Alaska

    This is why I don't let people touch my food with their hands. Way too many people go to the bathroom and don't clean their hands afterward. Frankly I'm surprised it's more of a problem on the trail than in town because all the time I see people come out of a bathroom without washing their hands.

    I think there is some real insight there. It has been statistically proven that backpackers are in a high risk group for getting giardia from untreated water.

    EPA: Epidemiological studies have also reported an increased risk of giardiasis among visitors to the Colorado mountains and hikers, backpackers, and campers in other areas who drink untreated or inadequately treated water from lakes and streams The FDA, CDC and most other public health organizations make similar statements.

    Giardia cysts are found in approximately 30% of water sources. VIABLE giardia cysts are rarely found in city water. Where should we expect to get sick from the water?

    As far as I know, there has never been an epidemiological study specifically showing, with data, that most hiker giardiasis comes from unwashed hands. If so, I hope someone will link to it.

    I would expect most cases of food-sharing caused giardiasis to occur in places where there are the most people with the dirtiest hands sharing food. Backpacking is where I tend to be around the least number of people, and where I'm the most reluctant to share food, and the only scientific study of it's kind showed that hiker hands were CLEANER at the end of their trip then when they started. http://www.adirondoc.com/publications/hand_contamination_2012.pdf

    In the "real world" according to a recent MSU study only 5% of people washed their hands enough to kill infection and illness causing germs after using the bathroom.

    Saying most cases of hiker giardiasis comes from unwashed hands is pure speculation. What is not speculation is that lack of handwashing and water treatment have been proven to sicken people in the city AND in the backcountry.

    #2040395
    Aaron Sorensen
    BPL Member

    @awsorensen

    Locale: South of Forester Pass

    Still no correct answer.
    Should be a piece of cake now.

    #2040410
    Stephen Barber
    BPL Member

    @grampa

    Locale: SoCal

    Buck sez: "There have been several studies showing a link between untreated water from lakes and streams and giardiasis. I don't know of any showing a DIRECT link between dirty backpacker hands and giardia, yet it undoubtedly happens."

    Further, in order to get giardia from your fellow hikers' hands, that hiker has to have giardia (or be wiping the bottom of someone who has giardia) in order to pass it on to you. Giardia is NOT just the trots from ingesting some random normal intestinal critters from your friend. It's a specific bacteria whose effects don't show up for around 10 days after ingestion. If your hiking friends don't have giardia, you can't get it from their dirty hands, unless they've been playing in infected p00p!

    How many of your hiking friends have giardia?

    #2040415
    Aaron Sorensen
    BPL Member

    @awsorensen

    Locale: South of Forester Pass

    Everyone has some stran of giardia in them.

    You are just immuned to "your" stran.

    #2040430
    Bob Gross
    BPL Member

    @b-g-2-2

    Locale: Silicon Valley

    "It's a specific bacteria whose effects don't show up for around 10 days after ingestion."

    Stephen, it is not bacteria at all.

    Giardia lamblia is a cystic protozoan. That means it is a parasite of sorts.

    –B.G.–

    #2040436
    Buck Nelson
    BPL Member

    @colter

    Locale: Alaska

    According to the CDC.

    People might build some immunity to a certain strain(s) leaving other strains for which they might have none.

    Facts matter.

    #2040525
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    I'm sorry, But I think I disagree with every 'clue' and claim in the quiz.
    Specifically, hand-to-mouth and contaminated water are the dominant vectors. Contaminated food is likely secondary, and falls under the 'hand' class anyhow.

    Cheers

    #2040545
    Aaron Sorensen
    BPL Member

    @awsorensen

    Locale: South of Forester Pass

    Most people realize that they shouldn't be putting their dirty hands in there mouth.

    When it comes to picking your nose, not so much.

    There was a huge article (also posted here) about giardia a few years back.
    The discussion on contaminated water was a huge shock to see just how few people got giardia from contaminated water.

    The result of picking ones nose was 75% of the culprit from the spread of other people's fecal matter to yourself.

    #2040548
    BlackHatGuy
    Spectator

    @sleeping

    Locale: The Cascades

    "The result of picking ones nose was 75% of the culprit from the spread of other people's fecal matter to yourself."

    That's why I stay away from the brown nosers at work…..

    #2040551
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    Hi Aaron

    > Most people realize that they shouldn't be putting their dirty hands in there mouth.
    > When it comes to picking your nose, not so much.
    News to me. Infected with a giardia cyst up the nose? Odd.
    Got a published reference for that?

    Cheers

    #2040552
    Aaron Sorensen
    BPL Member

    @awsorensen

    Locale: South of Forester Pass

    I would find it in the Forums Search, but it is next to impossible to search for something now.

    #2040553
    Ken Thompson
    BPL Member

    @here

    Locale: Right there

    "There was a huge article (also posted here) about giardia a few years back."

    link please.

    I stick with my answer from the Mayo Clinic

    No reason to pick one's nose outside. Block one nostril, stoop and blow.

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