There were two incidents of food poisoning on my trips this summer. In August, my SO and I got hit on the ninth night out, me much worse than her. We were puzzled as to the source: we had consumed no mayo, no egg products, no unpreserved meats, etc. We winnowed the likely sources down to these: 1. possible contamination of tortillas in handling; or, 2. possible bacterial growth on a bell pepper which had been slaughtered the day before and allowed to sit overnight in a hatch. (This was the only event I have experienced in some 5-6 seasons of many multi-day trips in temperate conditions: food stored against the hull while traveling -- water temps in the 50-55 F range, mostly.) In a mid-June trip, the victim was a woman who ate mussels from the same batch as the other five of us, gleaned from the same rocks the rest of us picked from, cooked en masse with all the other mussels. She got pretty sick in the night, but recovered the next day well enough to paddle eight miles, and then do a night paddle. Can one lone mussel be heavily contaminated, in the midst of others which are not? This trip was before the algae blooms hit our area. What is the experience of others? And, what precautions do others take to minimize the risk? We wash hands before food prep, minimize the time between filleting fish and consumption, filter water sources, wash dishes in salt water, rinse them with fresh, and allow to air dry inverted or hanging in a mesh bag (to keep critters out). Oh, yeah, on that August trip, there was some weird brown algae growing in one of our water bags, but I doubt that was the source of our problem, because we had been drinking from it for days before we noticed the brown stuff. Yeah, I know it sounds gross, but we decided if it had not hurt us by that point, what could it do now? Anybody ever had that stuff growing in their water? -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger wrote: > (snip)In a mid-June trip, the victim was a woman who ate mussels from the same > batch > as the other five of us, gleaned from the same rocks the rest of us picked > from, cooked en masse with all the other mussels. She got pretty sick in the > night, but recovered the next day well enough to paddle eight miles, and then > do a night paddle. Can one lone mussel be heavily contaminated, in the midst > of others which are not? This trip was before the algae blooms hit our area. > It could have been that she was allergic to iodine. This is a fairly common allergy, but most people don't discover it until they eat very fresh seafood from waters heavy in iodine. Her symptoms sound exactly like those caused by an allergic reaction. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Catherine Veraghen wrote: > > Dave Kruger wrote: > > > (snip)In a mid-June trip, the victim was a woman who ate mussels from the same > > batch as the other five of us, > It could have been that she was allergic to iodine. This is a fairly common > allergy, but most people don't discover it until they eat very fresh seafood from > waters heavy in iodine. Her symptoms sound exactly like those caused by an > allergic reaction. Could be. Symptoms certainly fit. I'll check with her later, but I know she has eaten heavily of mussels before, and she has also used iodine tablets exclusively for purifying drinking water on week-long backpack trips. Iodine seems unlikely. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Yes, I've had stuff in the water..... I went on a 5 day guided trip Down East in Maine in August. On the second day after my return, I got sick with giardia or a giardia-like bug. Aside from a day or two of relatively low fever (100), the primary symptom was a deep exhaustion, the like of which I've never felt before. Went to the doctor who said, we can test repeatedly and perhaps not find it, or we can treat empirically (the option I chose) with flagyl. Seemed to clear it up right quick. My prime suspect for this episode is a borrowed metal water bottle, which appeared to have some greenish brownish scummy stuff growing at the bottom, and from which I drank every day for 5 days. However, it could have been the water that was carried with us; the water we resupplied with; the preparation and handling of the pre-prepared food; the on-site handling of the food......etc. The trip leader was reported to be not feeling well the last 2 days, though exactly what the symptoms were, I don't know....nor do I know if anyone else was sick. Could also have been just a virus going around, I suppose. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
My wife came down with e.coli poisining last year... likely from eating mushrooms, as best as can be determined, since we don't eat beef. The possible connection may have been steer manure used to grow them (and other vegetables). >There were two incidents of food poisoning on my trips this summer. > <SNIP> >What is the experience of others? > >Dave Kruger >Astoria, OR >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List >Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net >Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net >Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ >*************************************************************************** > > Sam and Ann Isaacs Coast to Coast Canadian Products phone/fax: 604-271-3228 e-mail: saisaacs_at_netcom.ca *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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