[Paul B]

Hey Mountainbuzzers,
Has anyone out there ever gotten giardia while paddling? I currently am playing host to some sort of intestinal parasite that I have yet to formally identify, but it reminds me of a summer tryst I had many years ago with giardia. At that time the source and date of infection was clear, not so at this time. However, I have been spending a lot of time in three Colorado rivers ever since they started flowing. I must have picked it up that way, but I have had no problems in my previous two seasons. I know what the treatment is, but anyone out there have any ideas about prevention. OOOPS-gotta go

 

[yarn]

Prevention?

Try not to smile so much when your paddling.

 

[ringer]

That might be a hard thing to do when the rivers are flowing...
:lol:

 

[kayaker]

giardiasis and fecal coliform, heavy metals unionized amonia

"oops I shat myself again"
Colorado's Streams have many enemies.
When the streams get treated wrong, watersheds are polluted, aquatic life suffers and your health is in danger too.

Colorado's Threatened Streams: http://www.wcei.org/colorado/.\co-list.html
and read what the EPA knows about (you'll have to guess what they're missing out on)
http://oaspub.epa.gov/pls/tmdl/waters_list.tmdls?state=CO&y_est=1999
We all should care about what is being dumped/leached and pissed into Colorado's amazing creeks and rivers. We need to defend the creeks and rivers, they cannot defend themselves.
I think that pollution has gone too far when kayakers are shitting like mad indians as a result of paddling local streams.

 

[Geezer]

Hey, you can tell from the EPA site that the Fort Collins crowd is at least not shitting in the Poudre. Yea! :lol:

 

[milo]

i am not sure if this will work but it seemed to work for me in guatamala and ecuador......i took chewing gum(partially chewed) and soaked it in tea tree oil..... i then enjoyed the gum while paddlin'.....i felt this would help kill anything that was creeping it's way into my system... a new piece every hour on the hour....i had been worked over by a prehistoric strain of giardia from the black canyon of the gunny.....we did not wait long enough on our water tablets.... also while paddlin' in the U.K., i was turned on to the old coca-cola thing... drink before, during and after....who knows........it is tough not to swallow water when playing in a hole, huh?!?!? giardia likes beer more than kayakers do... hard to believe