hamok_at_easynet.co.uk wrote: > Not sure whether the peeing and lightening threads are going to join, i can > see the potential to get very nasty. > > On a different note, we are starting to fantasize about taking our nautiraid > to africa, Senegal in early 2005. Looking through the guidebooks a common > danger in africa for swimmers is schistosomiasis, a kind of worm. riverwater > contacting skin creates the danger, so tha advice seems relevant for > paddlers too (tho' the natives tend to use pirogues a lot) > > The general advice is don't swim in freshwater. In the two years we lived in Togo (down the coast a bit from Senegal), we swam in a local creek once a month or so. Schisto is a fluke, not a worm, exactly, and lives part of its life cycle in freshwater snails, who prefer still water. Freely flowing water is supposed to be safe. As least we never got it. Nor did the girls from the school where we taught, who also swam there (not the same times as we were there). That part of the world has some lovely parasites besides schisto. Look up Guinea worms sometime. I don't remember how you avoid them, but it's certainly a good idea. Then there's that little catfish in Amazonia that, if you pee while standing in the water waist deep (hey, some people are modest) swims up the urine stream and...well, you get the idea. -- Steve Cramer Athens, GA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:35 PDT