Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank

[chumley]

From AZCentral (http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z0ysvSnRjG)

A northern Arizona hiker who drank water from a cow tank was recovering Tuesday after apparently suffering from a stomach ailment, authorities said.
Two men were hiking in the Coconino County Forest's Wet Beaver Wilderness this past weekend when they ran out of water, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.
The men hiked the Apache Maid Trail on Friday, camped out overnight, then continued to hike Saturday.
With no water by Saturday night, the pair found water in tanks used by livestock. It was the only source of water they could find, so they tried to purify it using filters, officials said.
On Sunday morning, when one of the hikers woke up sick, the Sheriff's Office was called. The sick hiker was treated onboard a helicopter and both were taken to a hospital.
Parasites in the cow tank water could have possibly infected the hiker, officials said.

So many possible comments here. But I'll leave them to others.

[BobP]

I filtered water from those cow tanks...it was pretty yucky but I didn't get sick.

[wallyfrack]

Bob told them it was only 13 miles RT.

[BobP]

@wallyfrack
:guilty:

[PaleoRob]

From AZCentral (http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z0ysvSnRjG)

A northern Arizona hiker who drank water from a cow tank was recovering Tuesday after apparently suffering from a stomach ailment, authorities said.
Two men were hiking in the Coconino County Forest's Wet Beaver Wilderness this past weekend when they ran out of water, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.
The men hiked the Apache Maid Trail on Friday, camped out overnight, then continued to hike Saturday.
With no water by Saturday night, the pair found water in tanks used by livestock. It was the only source of water they could find, so they tried to purify it using filters, officials said.
On Sunday morning, when one of the hikers woke up sick, the Sheriff's Office was called. The sick hiker was treated onboard a helicopter and both were taken to a hospital.
Parasites in the cow tank water could have possibly infected the hiker, officials said.

So many possible comments here. But I'll leave them to others.

I've bathed in cow tanks before, and never gotten sick, but never drank from them.

[Jim]

Not a very good filter. I wonder how old it was?

[te_wa]

too litle info to make a guess. they say filtered and purify in the same sentence... a purifier is something usually defined as able to remove viruses.
anyway, this is prolly just another case of pumpkin to mouth where bad hygeine and poor washing habits are blamed on a water source.
fwiw, dirty hand to mouth contact is the number one cause of illness in the backcountry.
to avoid tummy turning, i use dr. bronners castile soap, and hand sanitizer before i cook or eat. and, i have drank from untreated sources numerous times.

[paulhubbard]

It could depend on the specific source, too. Some pools that are called "tanks" are a lot cleaner than others, or was it a water trough fed by a [steel] tank? - But none of the pond type "tanks" are clean enough that I would even think about drinking water from them, even with filtration.

[Sredfield]

I used a First Need Purifyer on some pretty skanky water from stock tanks in active use this spring, no problems.

[BobP]

@paulhubbard
The Apache Maid trail has 3 cow tanks that are real close to the trail....and several that are further away. They are pretty nasty. If you go off trail there are better sources but they are further away.

[kevinweitzel75]

They are called cow tanks for a reason. I have spent some time punching cows and I would never drink from one.

[Jim]

I have spent some time punching cows and I would never drink from one.

I drink milk from a bottle, but I agree and would not drink directly from a cow.

[PaleoRob]

They are called cow tanks for a reason. I have spent some time punching cows and I would never drink from one.

I heard that if you punch cows in the kidneys, you can fill those ponds up quick.

[big_load]

dirty hand to mouth contact is the number one cause of illness in the backcountry.

That's right. I've filtered water from plenty of cow tanks. There isn't much chance of illness if the filter was used properly, unless it had been damaged by freezing or something else. However, like many others, I'd only drink that stuff raw under emergency circumstances.

[joebartels]

this is prolly just another case of pumpkin to mouth where bad hygeine and poor washing habits are blamed on a water source

HAZ law only allows me to agree with te-wa three times a year, this is one of those times

[kevinweitzel75]

I heard that if you punch cows in the kidneys, you can fill those ponds up quick.