Giardia in Outback QLD

You didn't drink the water at Combo Hole, did you? Just remember a bloke drowned himself in that waterhole, a fair while ago.

What are your questions? We might be able to answer them if we know anything?

Bob.

Hi,

We travelled from Townsville-Cloncurry-Kynuna-Combo W/Hole-Winton -Barcaldine(Lloyd Jones Weir)-Longreach-Mitchell-Chinchilla-Boonah. We only topped up tanks and drank mains water at Winton,Lloyd Jones Weir(piped from Barcaldine) best bore water in QLD. We do have a double element filter fitted though (Ceramic Candle Primary and 10 Micron silver/carbon element 2nd) and since fitting this in 2004 we have never had any stomach problems at all.

As a local Cairns born at certain times of the year from about 1995-2000 I had re-occuring Giardia infections until I finally fitted a filter system on our house which after doing this and treating myself medically I have never had it again. We have been living in the van park in Gayndah off and on over 4 years 2003-2007 and most people in the park and town were getting stomach problems but we didn't have any problems. I put this down to the filters, as an instance when we up-sized our van in 2005 in Brisbane and until we had the filter assy refitted to the new van we both ended up with tummy problems then all returned to being ok.

We have been to other places where other people have ended up with sick stomachs but we never had any problems. I can tell you that you never build up an immunity to Giardia because of the 5 years I was infected it become more painful everytime and I have had Cryptosporidia in that period also and that is ten times worse than the other.

So yes we think that the filters are the Best ever investment for our health and more so while travelling full time as we have been since 2002.

Cheers Kev.

We recently travelled from Brisbane to The Kimberley and Pilbara via Mitchell, Blackall, Winton, MT Isa and returned via Camooweal, Kynuna, Barcaldine, Springsure, Theodore, Tolerroden (Eidsvold), Kingaroy and filled the tank with local water everywhere without any hint of giardia.
The worst tasting water we encountered during the whole 3 month 18k klm trip was at Winton - didn't make us sick though.
We don't have nor do we propose to fit filters.

We have been to all of the places mentioned and touch wood have never had a problem with water. BUT we do have a B.E.ST. water filter.
I flush the filter as we arrive a each fill spot and when we leave.
We have lived in the van for nearly 3 years so the tanks are being constantly used too.
Regards
PeteM

I got this some years ago when I was living in Perth and hadn't been anywhere!

The doctor's advice as well as the pharmacist was that it was not at all uncommon and eminently treatable so rather than put yourself in cotton wool, treat it and get on with living life to the max.

I got over it, losing about 5kg in the process which was handy, and have always thought that was really wonderful advice.

It's often not diagnosed early because people don't seek treatment as unexplained weight loss is the most common symptom apparently, but it shows up well enough in a stool sample and is then treated with a really powerful anti-parasitic which knocks you out for a couple of days. I started my course on a Friday after work and basically slept all weekend.

Good luck with it

Apparently its everywhere but not every body gets it.
Some of our party picked it up camping in Tassie apparently from the beautiful looking mountain stream water we were drinking.

A

Thanks for your replies so far. I don't have a giardia infection but two people who have recently traveled through the places mentioned have had a stomach issues. When they went to their doctors, they, by a process of elimination, said it must be giardia and treated them with antibiotics. One of those persons has had blood workups done and while there was no indication of giardia the doctor diagnosed it via a process of eliminating many other medical issues. As I said in my original post, town water supply (including bore water) was always used. If you have more information or ideas I would be like to hear them.

We stayed and Blackall last month. We swam in the Artesian Aquatic Centre on 28th and 29th August and my wife and I had 'gippy' tummies on the 31st when we got to Longreach. The pool was hardly in pristine condition - algae like material could clearly be seen on the pool floor in many places. I don't doubt it's maintained but it is privately owned/run so who knows how well...

We also had a horrible dinner at the Sports Club in Blackall. My steak was barely warm when it reached the table - all the food served in bain-maries was also 'cold' in our opinion. The staff said the temperature was the correct 80deg but to us it was barely warm.

We'll never know what caused our stomach upsets and both of us recovered very quickly without any intervention so it was mild but never the less made my wife feel pretty on her birthday - the 31st!

Cheers

Geo