Is there any Giardia? Recent review of history suggests No!

But without Giardia how do we sell water filters?

Erik Schlimmer in an article titled Giardia Myth-Buster: How Hearsay and Anecdotal Evidence has Created a False Industry Standard written for the Wilderness Education Association
Journal of the Wilderness Education Association
says Giardia is more hype and marketing than reality.

I thought this was interesting, even thought the research does not meet hard scientific standards, for two reasons. I still work as a whitewater raft guide and consequently swallow a lot of river water unfiltered. Not intentionally, but it happens. I’ve talked to other river guides about this and we all agree we don’t get sick. Now there is an exception in the Grand Canyon for norovirus, however the statistics show that guides don’t get norovirus either.

I was recently told by a friend, a physician, that he had attended a conference where one speaker said there was no giardia in the US and it all stemmed from one misdiagnosis many years ago.

Finally several studies have shown that nobody filters water correctly. In fact most studies show that either the way the equipment is stored or handled there is almost 100% cross contamination. One study showed that most people would be better off leaving the filter at home, washing their hands more and doing a better job of preparing and cleaning up after cooking.

But you say we see signs all the time that require us or tell us to filter our water. Most NPS and USFS information requires it and filtering is mandatory for commercial outfitters. But as the article states, liability and/or marketing are driving those signs and warnings more than hard science.

Why do I love this article? Because it is another story about us running around in the wilderness spouting what we think we know when we obviously don’t know.

I urge you to read this article. It is well written, humorous and tackles 99% of the giardia myths. More importantly it shows what we need to do to understand what is going on in our world. We need to quit guessing at what will make us safe and keep us out of court and look at what really works and does not work. Exam what we do based on science rather than guessing or beer. (Seriously I’ve seen enough risk management ideas that I swear were conceived over more beer than intelligence!)

Thanks Erik!