[pct-l] Waterborne giardia: a new look at the evidence

Bruce 'Buck' Nelson buck at bucktrack.com
Sun Sep 9 22:26:12 CDT 2012


Hi Tortoise,

I didn't want to debate things here but I have to respond.

I addressed this second flawed Welch paper in the same post. Following
is the important part, which addresses the best and largest
restrospective case-control study ever done on backpacker giardiasis:

"Welch makes an even more egregious "mistake" in <i>Giardiasis from
Wilderness Water.</i> Citing <i>Giardiasis in Colorado: an
epidemiologic study</i> he says <i>Responses indicated that 38% of
cases vs 18% of controls had camped overnight in backcountry
areas.</i> He ignores the very next line in the abstract to that paper
which says <i>and drank untreated mountain water (50% vs. 17%.)</I>
There it is, in black and white. The infection rate was TRIPLE for
drinking untreated mountain water in this large group."

He left out the most important line in the most important study ever
done on the subject, the line that refutes his paper. He also managed
to overlook that study's conclusion: <b>drinking untreated mountain
water is an important cause of endemic infection</b>

Whether or not we should treat our water is a personal decision, so HYOH.



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