The Bear Got Me ...

its a fairly heavy organism, and if you gather water from the still waters of a lake, away from "current'' you are about 99.9 % safe from the bug,

its at its worst were beaver ponds and other standing water come out into streams or running water. I have taken water samples just for giggles in BWCA lakes and brought them home had them anaylzed. (nephew does that for a living) and we have never had a hit when we take the water from a still lake.
 
ts a fairly heavy organism, and if you gather water from the still waters of a lake, away from "current'' you are about 99.9 % safe from the bug,

its at its worst were beaver ponds and other standing water come out into streams or running water. I have taken water samples just for giggles in BWCA lakes and brought them home had them anaylzed. (nephew does that for a living) and we have never had a hit when we take the water from a still lake.
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That is very interesting.
I have done a lot of scuba diving in areas with beaver lodges and never had any problems. I do also believe that people accustomed to drinking municipally treated water are at an increased risk. Like Brent, some of us are exposed to such things and therefore are not at risk as much as others. I do filter my water while hunting, especially when out of state. What i am exposed to around my home area I feel can be different 1000 miles away.
 
So, where did I contact it? It could have been from skinning the bear, or walking through a spawning salmon stream, or even from a few drops of water on the top of a can that had been chilled by glacier ice that was netted from the waters of Prince William Sound. In short, it could have come from anywhere.
Even though I thought I was being careful, the bug somehow slipped through.
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I mention this in passing as a reminder to any of you heading into the wilds. Take extra precautions.
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You weren't that careful. My guess is that you weren't aware what giardia was or you would have realized that our multiple trips to the john were an indication of your infection.

Let's see, you didn't get the bug from skinning the bear. You didn't get it from walking through a spawning salmon stream. You could have gotten it from your chilled cans of beer, maybe.

You don't get it from skin contact or contact with blood or through the blood (such as if you have an open wound). You have to ingest it orally or possibly through a contaminated enema.

Could you have gotten it from skinning the bear? Not unless you somehow ingested the parasite from the bear's intestine or stool, assuming the bear was infected. Maybe you came in contact with intestinal contents or feces and didn't wash your hands before eating?

Could you have gotten it in the salmon stream? Was your face being splashed with the water that somehow made it into your mouth?

Somethings to consider...did you rinse your utensils/dishware or food in the streams? Did you wash your hands in the streams before handling food?
 
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