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Giardia
and Bacteria
Giardia
is not the most likely cause of bowel problems and
diarrhea. Sure there are lots of giardia hanging around,
just waiting to make a cozy home in your gut. But
there are even more bacteria. You can pick up bacteria
from water, from food, from putting anything into
your mouth.
Sticking a finger into your nose is one of the best
transmission methods for a lot of things, like colds,
but I'm unsure whether you can get either giardia
or bacteria that way.
You can certainly get infected by sticking your fingers
in your mouth, for instance, to bite your fingernails.
Traveling the Third World is a good time to quit biting
the nails.
Bacterial
Diarrhea
It
tends to be explosive. One minute you're taking in
the tranquil scene at the quaint little village market.
The next you have an unmistakable urge to walk to
the toilet. Within the hour, you'll have one or more
urges to not just walk to the toilet, but to run to
it. In fact, you'll probably want to stick pretty
close to the toilet all day.
The symptoms here are key.
Giardia
Diarrhea versus Bacterial Diarrhea
In
my experience at defecating across several continents,
I think you can make a distinction here. Giardia diarrhea
tends to be much less frequent - one to three major
outbursts a day compared to five to 10 for bacterial
diarrhea.
Bacterial diarrhea also tends to be more watery. After
you've blown your valves a times or two, it becomes
quite watery. To be specific, sometimes it has the
consistency of a completely melted milk shake. Thus,
you can literally spray the side of the toilet if
you want.
Giardia
Club
4220 Brookside Dr
Rapid City, SD 57702
605-718-4567
Email
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