Re: Dehydration & Fatigue

29 June 2004, 12:14

All-

I study urban water contamination for a living right now, so I have seen about every kind of purification there is. If you want a good one, get the CERAMIC filters with a pore size of about .02 microns. The fabric and other types of filters will just tear when you get impatient and push hard, leaving you "trotting".

Another option if you have reason to be particularly nervous is THIS little beauty. You put ordinary salt in it, hit the button (powered by a 9v battery) and presto, you have a cobination of 4 different oxidizing agent that will kill anything in a matter of hours. Don't get it on your clothes.

I personaly only use a ceramic filter in the US. It gets all the real nasty and most prevelant stuff, which happen to be very large and easy to get. If you are concerned about viruses in the water (I have never been to Africa, there may be reason for concern), use the Miox pen AS WELL as the filter. The pen will only kill everything, not remove it. Also, use the pen AFTER filtering to improve effectiveness.

30 June 2004, 04:47

GeorgeS

Quote:

Believe it or not common rasberry cordial added to water kills a lot of bugs and if the water really tastes bad improves the flavour.

That reminds me of when I went to Turkey in 1981, right after the military coup.
Sanitation was lacking, especially in the water supply. My solution was to add ouzo, known locally as raki to both kill the bacteria and improve the taste.

I didn't get sick once, AND I was in a good mood most of the time.

Good thing Turkey is not an Islamo-fascist theocracy.

George

30 June 2004, 00:49

ErikD

Quote:

Remember also that ice is just frozen water and that as it melts it releases whatever "bugs" right into your drink.

I'd also add that if possible, it's better to drink stuff (water, coke, beer etc.) straight from the bottle. Lots of glasses you might be served with in africa are just barely rinsed, and not washed in hot water with soap. Not to mention that the water it's "washed"/rinsed in is the same water that might make you sick! Just a droplet or two that hasn't dried in the bottom of the glass can be enough...

If drinking from a can, make sure to clean the drinking edge as much as possible as lots of nasty stuff can accumalate in that little rim.

When it comes to bottled water, we took our chances every now and then, although we generally filtered all our own water while driving down through africa. However, when we did drink bottled water, we were very cautious about how the screw top looked, and if the water was totally clear. From a past near death experiance I had from amoebic dysentry in Bangladesh about 10 years ago with an incredably high fever and $hitting blood for several days with no medical help available, I knew that many 3rd world bottles are poorly made. What happens is that the "seal" that is supposed to break when you unscrew the top, doesn't break. The empty bottle is then picked up by local kids who fill it with practically any water that's nearby, even straight from the sewage in the streets, and then screw the unbroken top on again. They then sell the bottles to the local store, who sells them as "new". What I was later taught by locals in Bangladesh was to always check to see if there is any "silt" or murkyness to the water, or if there is any residue resting at the bottom of the bottle. Since many african bottles are of simular poor quality, I have no doubt that some kids there too have found about about this lucrative scam...

Erik D.

30 June 2004, 09:28

mehulkamdar

A native remedy that seems to work in India is coconut water drunk fresh from cut fruit but I wonder if you could get it in Africa or whether it would be practical to even have someone carry the coconuts along as they can be heavy. They contain salts that prevent dehydration though. A solution might be to drink quite a bit before going out and then after returning...

Just my 2 c.

Good hunting!