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Giardiasis: Where Does It Come From?

Giardiasis: Where Does It Come From?

August 19, 20141247Views
giardiasis
Giardia cell

Summertime is virtually everyone’s favorite time to play outside and get dirty, but it is important to be aware of your surroundings and take care to always wash your hands after a fun day in the outdoors, when using the bathroom, and when handling food and drinks to avoid food and waterborne illnesses that seem to strike a percentage of the population every summer. One particularly nasty illness is giardiasis, the symptoms of which can include nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, bloating, and excessive gas. Giardiasis is the most common parasitic infection in the world, and without treatment, symptoms can endure for weeks.

Giardiasis is a parasitic disease that occurs in the intestines of a living organism that ingests a protozoan known as Giardia lamblia, or simply giardia. People and animals can both be infected with giardiasis, and the parasite can survive for several weeks inside its host. Once it has settled inside a host, the giardia will encase itself in a hard shell before eventually being passed in stool. Giardia can survive outside for several months and is found worldwide. The best defense against the infection is to know where the giardia parasite can be found and how to prevent contraction.

Contaminated Water

Giardiasis can occur when the parasite is unknowingly ingested. The most common way that giardiasis can occur is by swallowing contaminated water from ponds, streams, lakes, rivers, public water parks, and spas. Younger children who wear diapers into swimming pools can infect other swimmers who accidentally swallow the water through small fecal particles that could contain the parasite.

Contaminated Food

Another way that giardiasis can be spread is through contaminated food. Any uncooked food that is washed in contaminated water could contain the parasite and infect anyone who subsequently eats it. Food can also be tainted by anyone handling it with unsanitized hands.

Contact with Infected Host

giardiasis
Always boil water from natural sources

Giardia can also be spread through person-to-person contact. This can occur from parents changing their child’s diaper as fecal matter containing the parasite has a high probability of getting on their hands. Nursing homes and child care centers are at high risks for contracting the parasite and spreading to all surrounding hosts. However, it is not possible to contract the disease by contact with blood from anything that has contracted the parasite.

Images via Wikipedia, eggrole