Guardiasis in Paradise

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

As with most quality products, the Katadyn is expensive . . . around $170. [EDITOR'S NOTE: The best price we have found is $150 postpaid from Provisions Unlimited, P.O. Box 456, Oakland, ME 04963.] But in my opinion, it's worth it. The company is Swiss and has been making the filters for 50 years. Organizations like NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the International Red Cross have used them as standard equipment for decades. (Katadyn also makes larger filters for home use.)

There are other filters on the market, but I feel they're second choices. Most have larger pore sizes of.4 microns (which will stop giardias but not all infective bacteria), throw-away cartridges, and clogging problems. [EDITOR'S NOTE: One of the best of these other filters is First-Need. This 12-ounce unit is available for $39.95 postpaid (a recommended replacement canister is an additional $24.95) from General Ecology, Inc., 151 Sheree Blvd., Lionville, PA 19353.]

LUCKY US

We're really quite lucky. Compared with the crippling, blinding, and terminal diseases of the tropics that affect millions of people each year, giardiasis seems quite benign. And we have effective treatment for it, whereas some tropical diseases are resistant to all known drugs.

Then again, giardiasis is not the only waterborne infectious disease in the U.S. There are hosts of bacteria, viruses, and other parasites. Still, Giardia lamblia is our most prevalent parasite . . . and one we're stuck with. We'll never be able to eradicate it from every stream and carrier (especially since most of the latter are asymptomatic).

This protozoan is here to stay—a fact of life, like pesty insects. Indeed, it's probably been around a heck of a lot longer than humans (the word protozoa actually means "first animal"). We just have to learn to live with Giardia lamblia.

By trying to live without it.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print