Histoplasmosis and other issues along the trail?

[Venchka]

I would argue that someone that is asymptomatic, suffering no ill effects from the parasite, is basically immune. Fully 20% of the world is infected and asymptomatic.
Not everyone will suffer horrible symptoms.
The same way not everyone is succeptible to west nile, or brown recluse bites.

Thank you.
Wayne


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[CalebJ]

I'm old enough to have earned the right to make the following conclusions:
1. Giardia is a myth.
2. I am immune to Giardia.
3. If you fall for the Giardia Scare Tactics spread by the Nanny police and the CDC, you are doomed to stay indoors and die of boredom.

I believe you just made my point.
Wilderness isn't as dangerous as we have been led to believe.
Unfortunately, the AT isn't Wilderness.
Have a great hike!
Wayne

If that was your point, perhaps you'd have been better off by actually stating that instead of making ridiculous statements like 'giardia is a myth'.

Yes, it's uncommon and the majority of people don't contract it. However, it does exist along the AT corridor and encouraging reasonable water treatment practices is the sane response. It's absolutely miserable and entirely preventable, so why would you pretend otherwise?

[Dogwood]

Your heart and intent was in the right place Venchka - Wilderness(Nature) isn't as dangerous as we have been led to believe. You're wording and assessment was off though in your first post. I've put myself in that same place more times then I can recall so know what it's like in that place. You've since clarified. Time to move on.

[MuddyWaters]

Fungal/mold/dander diseases/irritations are something I'm concerned as a backpacker since most often I'm sleeping on the ground usually cowboy and under a tarp camping

Not even on most peoples radar.
A friend of mines teenage daughter died a few yrs ago from fungal infection in lungs. She went to dr first day running fever too. In two weeks she was dead.

[KDogg]

Filter your water...always. If you don't you are just being lazy. The folks in the Smokeys last year during the big deluge will recommend this as well. Imagine how fun it is to drink muddy water.

Watch for Lymes disease. One thing I had no idea about was how small these freakin ticks are. TINY!!! Many folks got it without ever seeing the tick. They are for ticks the size of a penny. Bring one of the small swiss army knives and use the tweezers to pull them off.

[Smithereens]

I can't believe no one has brought up old cousin Nora! I'm sure she'll be wandering the trail again this year. I'm pretty sure everyone hates it when she visits.

[shelb]

That was my thought with the mention of diarrhea!

[rocketsocks]

I can't believe no one has brought up old cousin Nora! I'm sure she'll be wandering the trail again this year. I'm pretty sure everyone hates it when she visits.

She's a real pain in the ass.

[Another Kevin]

I don't worry about histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis (valley fever), or similar fungal diseases along the AT. It's too wet. The spores get seriously airborne only in dry conditions.

What does concern me:

Tick-borne disease. All my trail clothing is permethrin-treated. I use DEET in bad seasons. Fortunately, I don't think I've found an attached tick in years, so maybe the permethrin works. I don't carry doxycycline, and with the photosensitivity that it brings, I'd need to get off trail if I started taking it! (Babesiosis worries me just as much as Lyme, by the way.)

Diarrhoeal disease. This encompasses: protozoa (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba); bacteria (E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella, ...); viruses (most notably the Noroviruses, but Rotavirus, Coxsackievirus, etc. are common as well). First line of protection here is soap and water - wash your hands after pooping or handling your privates, and before eating or handling food. Don't eat anything another hiker has touched. Beyond that, water treatment surely can't hurt, and beyond that, on a week-long or longer trip, I'll carry a five-day course of Cipro against the possibility of dysentery. The protozoa have a long enough incubation time that on a vacation trip, I'll be back in town before I get sick. The viruses, well, there's nothing in the water in the Northeast that's likely to kill me if I'm upstream of people and livestock. Noro would make me miserable, but it's not hepatitis A or polio!