If the treated water is to be consumed by infants or young children, elderly, or pregnant or immunocompromised individuals, then it is essential to use a purifier for the highest level of protection. Susceptibility is another good way to determine needs. If traveling in developing countries with poor sanitation, purification will be your safest choice. As a rule of thumb, remote areas with few people require (at least) filtration while popular areas with many human visitors require purification. In contrast, waterborne viruses are species-specific and therefore transmitted to water sources by human waste alone. When evaluating water sources it is important to keep the following in mind: In general, protozoa and bacteria infect both animals and humans and are transmitted to water sources by animal and human waste. For more information on diseases caused by specific pathogens, please visit To decide whether you need a filter or a purifier, two important factors must be evaluated: water sources and susceptibility. Your location-a remote basecamp in Pakistan or a day hike close to home- will play a key role in the severity of your illness, should you become infected. However, infants, young children, elderly, pregnant, and immune-compromised individuals are at higher risk of needing medical attention or having complications from an illness. Healthy adults will generally knock the illness without needing medical attention and without lasting effects. Symptoms usually dissipate in a couple of days or weeks, again depending on the three elements above. Symptoms can range from nothing to diarrhea, abdominal cramps and pain, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps, fever, fatigue, headache, chills, loss of appetite, and, in the case of hepatitis, dark urine and jaundice. The onset of symptoms can start anywhere from 10 hours to several weeks from the point of infection depending on the type and amount ingested, and constitution of the individual. This slows the rate at which water passes through the media, decreasing overall flow rate.įirst, it will usually take more than one organism to make you sick-around 10 for protozoa and viruses and 10 to 1,000,000 for bacteria depending on the species. The flow rates of physical purifiers are generally slower than that of filters, because the internal media that removes contaminants has to be small enough to capture tiny viruses. Today, new advancements in physical purifiers provide a convenient option to physically remove viruses quickly and easily. Traditionally, UV light, chemical treatments or boiling were required to deactivate viruses by scrambling their DNA or killing them. Far smaller than protozoa or bacteria, viruses slip through the technologies used in backpacking filters. Why the two treatment device options? The reason is, viruses are just too small for filters to catch. In contrast, a "purifier" can employ a variety of methods to do so, from physically removing the contaminants to disinfecting the water of them, through UV or chemical treatments. In these areas, such as in developing countries, a purifier is recommended.Īdditionally, filters physically remove matter and microbes from the water. In places heavily trafficked by humans or where sanitation systems are poor, the risk for viruses increases.
A water purifier is designed to combat all three classes of microbes, including viruses.īecause North American backcountries are regarded as low-risk for viruses, filters typically offer a sufficient water treatment method. Generally speaking, a water filter is designed to remove waterborne protozoa and bacteria, but not viruses. The main difference lies in the level of protection they provide.
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