Miscellani

A GIARDI PRIMER:

This is a picture of the nasty intestinal parasite known as Giardia Lamblia. Here is a link to an informative Wikipedia article on the beast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia

It commonly infects cats. It can cause infection in humans and you are best to avoid it as it causes bloating and flatulence, which are socially unacceptable. It is the MOST frequent cause of non-bacterial diarrhea in North America (I'll bet you did not know that). The little bugger particularly likes to live in the water behind beaver dams and so it is affectionately known as "Beaver Fever." It was first discovered by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1681 as he had it himself and was examining his own diarrheal stools with his newly invented microscope! You think you have weird hobbies.

Professor Brain Ford of Cambridge writes eloquently: "Human giardiasis can be divided into two disease phases: acute and chronic. The acute phase is usually short-lived, characterised by flatulence with sometimes sulphurous belching and abdominal distension with cramps. Diarrhoea is initially frequent and watery but later becomes bulky, sometimes frothy, greasy and offensive. The gas may cause the stools to float." http://www.brianjford.com/Giardia-14-06.pdf I think this may qualify as TMI (too much information)