Have you had giardia.

I have been drinking water from beaver infested rivers, lakes, etc. off and on since 1978. Don't think I have ever had giardia. If I did it was a mild case. I'm curious if having giardia gives you immunity to getting it again. Anyone have experience?

ive had it. i doubt having it once would make you immune, since its a parasite, not a disease. it only gets worse as time passes. if you get it, youll know it. great weight loss program though.

I had it. Only thing I got immunity from was the idea of EVER getting it again!

Pete

I second Pete's motion.

I grew up drinking from creeks and even used to drink from beaver spillways. I don't do it as much any more, but I still drink stuff I tell other people not to. I've never had it. Yeah, I have heard people claim that you can't get an immunity to it. But. . . what they call Montezuma's revenge in Mexico? Yeah, that is giardia. All the local Mexican drink the water daily without issues, but it will make the tourists deathly ill.
I'm a little more careful what I drink these days, but I know three or four guys who have got it from drinking water out of the same streams I do, so I'm pretty sure I've got an immunity.

id guess that some peoples body chemistry might kill the parasite, while others dont. day care centers in town have occasional cases of it in the kids there, so it must be getting into the water systems somehow too. i dont know how the kids are treated for it. when i was treated for it, the drugs were harsh. basically a poison that kills the parasite, and it took maybe 10 days or so back then.

I was chipping a ice hole in a pond that was black water and a drop of water landed in my mouth and it took 2 treatments over a years time to kill off the Giadria!

One of the world's experts on the subject gave a talk about it at the Washington state trappers assn rendezvous several years ago.
I learned lots of things about "beaver fever" I never knew.
1) it is a large organism, let's say you have a 55 gallon drum of water, and 50 people drink from it. If there are only a few parasites in the barrel it's possible that only a couple, or no one will get sick
2) beavers get the blame for a sickness that is mostly passed around by people.
3) There are a small percentage of people of European descent who carry the parasite around in their gut with no ill effects. They are the primary cause of spread.

Want to ruin a good hunt.....................

I took a buddy named Don out to moose camp with me one year. He is a Marine and I am ex-Army so we always give each other a hard time It is a 7 hour float to camp and it was a nice sunny warm September day when we stopped to take a break and eat some lunch.
Now I had a whole case of bottled water setting right there in the canoe an even offered him one.
Mr tough guy waded out into the river and started drinking directly from it, I was like dude you dont want to do that there are beavers in here...... Him.. Oh look how crystal clear the water is! We are in Alaska the water is pristine! I am good!
Not even 6 hours later it hit him!
Our trip was scheduled for a week, his lasted 3 days. Ran out of TP and baby wipes on day 2
He earned the nick name Beaver Fever Don after that trip

^^^^^
The expert also told us that you are less likely to get giardia from drinking muddy water from out of a hoof print than from a crystal clear stream.

The first time I got giardia was from drinking clear water but didn’t take treatment to get rid of it. Might not have been giardia but no warning, I knew where EVERY. Bathroom was on Ft. Wainwright not much time to look for one. I ended up taking apple cider vinegar poured onto a large spoon full of sugar to get things stopped! Second time nothing worked except a trip to the Dr!

im not one to run to the doc for every little thing, so i blew it off, for 2 1/2 years. i was down to 128 pounds when i finally gave in. amazing how fast a piece of food can travel through your system from one end to the other. aint as tough as i used to be, so dont take chances anymore.

many treatments are not a final solution.
It only takes a couple that get pass the system and problems start up around 6-8 months later

I’ve read that about 1/3 of the world’s population lives with it all their lives.

I have had a few times 4 to be exact the first was the worst and after that experience I wasn’t drinking the water finally dialed into the fact that I was handling beaver in camp with no gloves after I started using gloves and using lysol wipes on my hands before eating or drinking anything no more problems. Flagil cures it pretty quick if you think you got it go see the Dr it is painless

And it's those folks who are spreading it around; not the beavers.

Do you have a source on what Europeans are immune to it.

I have drank water long term without boiling from clear lakes, rivers, and streams all over Maine, Quebec, Ontario, Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska.
Not sure why I have never had it.
Now that I am cautious will probably get it.

I've never had it but certainly should have. I have used the rivers and lakes for almost 50 years without ill effects.......that I am aware of.