How many of you have been hit with the beaver fever (giardia)?

[TheJason]

I've had it. I think the severity of symptoms probably depends on how heavy the parasite load is. Mine was pretty bad. I was nauseous and had no appetite for a couple of weeks until I figured out what it was (my buddy got tested, drank from the same water source). The medicine wasn't all that fun either. I lost about 15 pounds before it was all said and done.

 

[oleefish2]

Not fun at all, I got it at about 10,000 feet, from a spring coming out of the mountain in the mid 1980s. I use to drink out of irrigation ditches and every creek I fished as a kid. I think our systems could handle it better then.

 

[antelopedundee]

I remember as kids we drank creek water any number of times and none of us ever got sick.

 

[TheJason]

I remember as kids we drank creek water any number of times and none of us ever got sick.

I used to all the time too, up until my late 30's when I finally got giardia. I filter now.

 

[dcopas78]

I remember as kids we drank creek water any number of times and none of us ever got sick.

I did the same thing too, up until I got the crypto. I won't drink unfiltered anymore no matter how clean it looks, and especially since I became a water treatment professional (after the crypto lol). Giardia just happens to be one of the most common. There are over 600 different potential pathogens in untreated water. E.coli, salmonella, cholera, typhoid, and hep A are also present in untreated water. I don't really know how we didn't get sick as kids other than the possibility that a lot of us just beat the law of averages.

 

[NoWiser]

I’ve been drinking water, unfiltered, straight out of Canadian lakes for the last 12 years without any ill effects. Probably hundreds of nalgenes full. We try to stay at least a few hundred yards from beaver lodges when we fill up. You guys that said you never got it until your late thirties are making me nervous. I’m in my mid thirties.

 

[antelopedundee]

I used to all the time too, up until my late 30's when I finally got giardia. I filter now.

Course that was like 55-60 years ago for me.

 

[schmalts]

i've had Crypto, and it's not as bad but can last longer. Took me 3 months until I was safe to be away from a crapper after eating a meal.

 

[hank4elk]

I did the same thing too, up until I got the crypto. I won't drink unfiltered anymore no matter how clean it looks, and especially since I became a water treatment professional (after the crypto lol). Giardia just happens to be one of the most common. There are over 600 different potential pathogens in untreated water. E.coli, salmonella, cholera, typhoid, and hep A are also present in untreated water. I don't really know how we didn't get sick as kids other than the possibility that a lot of us just beat the law of averages.

My case was mild but the research was shocking & I was training as Water System Operator & Pool certifications right after. I got my 1st water filters in home & portable for trips then too. I knew about the chances back in 80's,but did nothing different.
Research also found water in high clear lakes gets ultraviolet treatment & drinking from most is safe.
It's the runoff from pastures & such that you have to watch as source still.
Good way to get sick is surfing off coastal streams after storms ,I found out the hard way too....

 

[Nameless Range]

The late summer leading into my senior year of high school I went camping with a couple buddies and drank too much. We were right in the heart of two-a-days for football. I was so hungover I missed two days of practice. Not knowing what it was, I told the coach I had "beaver fever". Trouble was my coach knew exactly what giardia was. A couple questions later it was obvious I was full of shit, and he knew it. I paid dearly in bear crawls and barf.

I have been desperate in the backcountry and drank water I should not have, but have so far dodged the giardia bullet.

 

[Sytes]

Most always filter or nasty iodine pill water. I've drank from sources straight from springs at wall areas... I've been with a friend who thought he would show me "it's safe"... now baptized into the word of filtration...
Haha! Nameless, easy to look back and laugh now though the barf crawl... reminds me of the porcelain hugging... short term "beaver fever" of the alcohol sort back in the frat world...

 

[antelopedundee]

I used to all the time too, up until my late 30's when I finally got giardia. I filter now.

In all honesty we really didn't know any better IIRC.

 

[Potsie]

I ended up with a dose not long after high school. Went on a backpacking trip with some friends, then didn’t feel “right” for a couple weeks, then the violent diarrhea started. Ended up being admitted into the hospital because of dehydration, they initially were going down the C-Diff path until one doctor did a very thorough medical history. Tested me for Giardia, got me some meds, and I was in the path to recovery. It took almost 3 months before I felt I had much strength (I lost almost 30 pounds.)

I’ve had kinds of stomach bugs, I used to work in development aid, so lots of trips in and out, and lived in some of the poorest countries around. Typhoid, disentary, Montezuma’s Revenge... none compares to Beaver Fever.

 

[COEngineer]

I went for a swim in a river in WI one summer when I was visiting. I did not intentionally drink the water, but I'm sure I ingested some. No way of knowing it was giardia for sure, but about 10 days later I was literally crawling to/from the bathroom and at times had a bucket in my hands while sitting on the throne.

BTW, I read last year that about 50% of cases of giardiasis present no symptoms at all. So, like a lot of illnesses, if you are run down and/or not eating normally (like I often am when I travel) the effects can be more severe.

 

[Steiny]

A couple buddies and I were ice skating as kids, got real thirsty so drank from the creek.
All of us wound up sick as dogs puking and running back and forth to the toilet, and we all missed school the next day. There were cattle a few miles upstream.

 

[COEngineer]

A couple buddies and I were ice skating as kids, got real thirsty so drank from the creek.
All of us wound up sick as dogs puking and running back and forth to the toilet, and we all missed school the next day. There were cattle a few miles upstream.

Giardia takes 1-3 weeks for symptoms to occur. If you were sick that day or the next, it was something else.