During your hiking, camping, or general outdoor adventures this summer, it’s important to remember safe drinking water practices. Ensuring a safe water supply will help you avoid contaminants that cause infections, such as from the Giardia lamblia parasite.
Giardia infection (or Giardiasis) occurs worldwide and is a common cause of infectious diarrhea in the United States. (Other symptoms can be nausea, gas, abdominal cramping, and fever.) Symptoms usually appear 1 to 2 weeks after a person becomes infected.
Giardia infection occurs most frequently after a person drinks water that is contaminated with this parasite. Lakes, ponds, rivers, springs, and streams can be infected with the organisms. It can also be found in soil or food, or on surfaces with feces from infected animals or humans. Interestingly, Giardia is also commonly transmitted in daycare centers where many diapers are being changed. The infection is transmitted from the feces of the child to the daycare worker.
How to Prevent Giardiasis
While on your great outdoor adventures, here are some tips to help keep you safe:
- In plain and simple terms, do not drink untreated water. Even though that crystal clear stream or lake looks like you could drink right from it – don’t! The water might contain contaminants such as Giardia that can make you sick. Also, remember not to use untreated water for other activities that might contaminate you, such as for washing food or brushing your teeth.
- If you can, bring bottled water along with you and use that as your water source for drinking, brushing your teeth, and cooking.
- Try to use safe water sources that are available to you in the campground, such as tap water that has already been processed and filtered.
- Boiling the water for one minute at a rolling boil or using filter devices that are one micron or smaller and have been rated for “cyst removal” can help you avoid infection – but they are not guarantees for water safety. Unfortunately, Giardia and other organisms are not killed by water purification tablets.
If you are unfortunate enough to develop diarrhea after an outdoor adventure or while traveling – be sure to see a doctor. Giardia infection can be diagnosed by a doctor who takes a medical history, examines you, and runs some tests including checking your stool to see if the Giardia parasite is present. It is typically treated by taking an antibiotic.
A Giardia infection can last for 1 to 2 weeks. But more commonly, it can become chronic and last for months. The chronic form occurs more frequently in people who have additional medical problems, such as a weak immune system (the system that helps fight off disease and infection).
For more information about Giardia and safety while enjoying the great outdoors, see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web page on Giardia Infection and the other sources below. |
