Health And Safety When Caching

March 17, 2005

Hi all....as a newbie...I don't know if this subject has been broached before.....

I found my first cache two weeks ago....all went well...but about a week later I fell ill with a nasty case of gastric Flu.....Well...you know how the human mind works in times like that....and as I normally have a 'cast iron' constitution.....while I was languishing in my bed in extreme discomfort....all sorts of thoughts passed thru my mind....'Is it Flu?'...'Is it Weil's disease?'...which I believe starts off with Flu -like symptoms....of course it was Flu...as I am still here to testify.....

But the problem is....it could have been Weil's....we don't know what happens to the caches when no-one is around...and which creatures are making 'deposits' of their own over them....So in future I will take a few pairs of disposable latex gloves with me when caching....just in case!!!!!

Am I being alarmist....I'm not sure!!!!!

Edited March 17, 2005 by Lowlander99

March 17, 2005

Alarmist !

Ignorance was bliss!

March 17, 2005

Alarmist !
Ignorance was bliss!

The thing is ...we don't want ignorance to kill.....

3.9k · March 17, 2005

If you want to decide that "if B followed A, then B was caused by A", then that's up to you (welcome to the world of the believers in, er, more or less everything anyone tells them).

But in the absence of other evidence, I'd be very skeptical. Most digestive diseases normally take about 24 hours to show up. I'd worry more about what you ate, and how often everybody washed their hands, about 6 days after you went caching.

More generally, if you are genuinely concerned that there is a statistically significant chance of you catching a deadly disease from a walk in the country, I suggest you reconsider your choice of weekend activities, as you will probably be rather stressed by Monday

Edited March 17, 2005 by sTeamTraen

March 17, 2005

I am glad that you are so sure of your beliefs.....good luck....

Anyway....statistics don't seem to matter much when you are the 'one in a million'.....

Edited March 17, 2005 by Lowlander99

March 17, 2005

The thing is ...we don't want ignorance to kill.....

Lyme Disease .. can get that from some deer tics down south .

March 17, 2005

The thing is ...we don't want ignorance to kill.....

Lyme Disease .. can get that from some deer tics down south .

South of the Watford Gap...or...South of the Waist....

Edited March 17, 2005 by Lowlander99

1.1k · March 17, 2005

Believe it or not, I've actually been on a training course about Weil's disease (Leptospirosis). - it's an occupational hazard of working in the water industry!

Without going into huge details, generally, if you are careful to wash your hands before eating if you've been rummaging in the undergrowth, you should be OK, and you should be doing that anyway right?

A very useful giude to leptospirosis is at leptospirosis.org

Hope this helps / puts your mind at rest / doesn't make you worry unneccesarily

Nick

March 17, 2005

Believe it or not, I've actually been on a training course about Weil's disease (Leptospirosis). - it's an occupational hazard of working in the water industry!

Without going into huge details, generally, if you are careful to wash your hands before eating if you've been rummaging in the undergrowth, you should be OK, and you should be doing that anyway right?

A very useful giude to leptospirosis is at leptospirosis.org

Hope this helps / puts your mind at rest / doesn't make you worry unneccesarily

Nick

Thanks for the info...after all...that is the purpose of fora...to promote thought and discussion!!!! :laughing:

Edit: Thanks for the link...very informative.....good work :laughing:

Edited March 17, 2005 by Lowlander99

March 17, 2005

South of the Watford Gap...or...South of the Waist....

Both!

March 17, 2005

Am intrigued...dying to know...what is Lymes....

2k · March 17, 2005

I carry a tub of baby wipes in my car, which I use when I get back after visiting a cache.

March 17, 2005

I carry a tub of baby wipes in my car, which I use when I get back after visiting a cache.

Good thinking Batwoman....

By the way ...you don't sound like a backward maiden...

Edited March 17, 2005 by Lowlander99

March 17, 2005

248 caches and not dead yet

Stu

March 17, 2005

We always carry some of that liquid handwash that doesn't make your hands wet - if that makes sense, but I must say I hadn't stopped to ponder much about what happens to the cache when noone is there, but we could always spray it with bacterial spray before we open it!!!! To be honest after we have had a days cacheing with kids and dogs in tow I'm more worried about what we're all going to catch from the car on the way home!!! Now - where's my medical dictionary!!

March 17, 2005

We always carry some of that liquid handwash that doesn't make your hands wet - if that makes sense, but I must say I hadn't stopped to ponder much about what happens to the cache when noone is there, but we could always spray it with bacterial spray before we open it!!!! To be honest after we have had a days cacheing with kids and dogs in tow I'm more worried about what we're all going to catch from the car on the way home!!! Now - where's my medical dictionary!!

Good point...not having a Dog or ankle-biters....I didn't even think of the dreadful circumstance.....what a horrific thought...shudder...shudder..

March 17, 2005

Am intrigued...dying to know...what is Lymes....

Lyme disease can be serious so it is worth knowing about.

Google finds lots of stuff about it eg http://www.amm.co.uk/newamm/files/factsabout/fa_lyme.htm

It is a risk anywhere in the UK where ticks are present.

So if you are walking through long grass, heather, woodland etc it's best to keep your skin covered and check yourself all over for ticks shortly afterwards.

There's a lot of advice around about removing ticks - much of it contradictory. You have to make sure you remove the whole thing including the head, and you don't squeeze it causing it to spew up its guts into your blood. I think the best way to do this is to twist it gently, or you can get special tools designed for removing ticks from animals.

1.1k · March 17, 2005

The more I read about things like this, the more I feel like locking myself in the house and sealing all the windows and doors, but then I realise that the house dust mites would get me!

edit: And I'd eventually run out of oxygen too!

Edited March 17, 2005 by NickPick

March 17, 2005

Am intrigued...dying to know...what is Lymes....

It's been discussed before Here

1.8k · March 17, 2005

I would recomend the alcohol gel hand cleaners now being used all over hospitals as they will kill anything you might get on your hands when out caching. They cost £1.75 plus postage for a palm sized spray designed to be carried arround and not contaminated. You can get them from online medical supply websites. One of those dispensers (which come filled) lasts about 50 hand cleanings.

March 17, 2005

We get dozens of tics attached to us each year .Find them crawling all over our clothes .then they get in somehow and find somewhere snug to attach ..even had them attached to toes and his ecetras once!

Hence have given up on the wearing long trousers and sleeves theory,it didnt work for us . Just didnt fancy the tight band round the neck to block the only remaining entrance .

March 17, 2005

....we don't know what happens to the caches when no-one is around...and which creatures are making 'deposits' of their own over them....So in future I will take a few pairs of disposable latex gloves with me when caching....just in case!!!!!

Am I being alarmist....I'm not sure!!!!!

Oh for goodness sake! Thats why kids are all on inhalers and turn grey at the sight of a bit of mouldy bread. If you don't get all mucky (and swallow some of it) you never build up your stock of antibodies.

When I were a kid we lived in ' old septic tank. Got up at half past three in t' mornin' an' Licked road clean wi' tongue. Never did us any 'arm.

1.1k · March 17, 2005

When I were a kid we lived in ' old septic tank. Got up at half past three in t' mornin' an' Licked road clean wi' tongue. Never did us any 'arm.

You had an old septic? Posh eh? We had to make do wi an upturned bath for the fourteen of us, an' it 'ad an 'ole in it!

And we didn' 'ave shoes, 'ad to paint us feet black!

March 17, 2005

Oh for goodness sake! Thats why kids are all on inhalers and turn grey at the sight of a bit of mouldy bread. If you don't get all mucky (and swallow some of it) you never build up your stock of antibodies.

When I were a kid we lived in ' old septic tank. Got up at half past three in t' mornin' an' Licked road clean wi' tongue. Never did us any 'arm.

Hear, hear!!

........and after all that we would go down to the sea and swim right next to the sewage discharge pipe.....

Perhaps we should all go for a mass buy of biological suits?

March 17, 2005

You had an old septic? Posh eh?

We still live in a hole in the ground .

Edited March 17, 2005 by t.a.folk

3.9k · March 17, 2005

Anyway....statistics don't seem to matter much when you are the 'one in a million'.....

No, but you won't be the one in a million very often. And you weren't this time. You got a stomach bug, or ate something which wasn't very clean. However, if you get killed on the roads, or by MRSA, or have a heart attack, you will be, rather boringly, one in a thousand, or whatever.

It's important for people to understand the real risks which they face. In general, the nastier something sounds, the less likely it is to happen to you. A nasty disease which you might get off a cache box already sounds so much worse than a road accident, perhaps because we discount the latter so much. I know loads of people who have died in road accidents (and a couple who've have Lyme Disease - it's nasty and not especially rare), but nobody who got blown up by terrorists or caught necrotizing fasciitis (aks "flesh eating killer bug"). But guess which of those get talked about most on the telly ?

3.7k · March 17, 2005

Hole in t'ground?

Luxury!

March 17, 2005

I am almost sorry to have started this debate.....almost...but I would like to point out that I do not want to spoil anyone's enjoyment of any pursuit....but think that a well informed person is a stronger one ...and better equipped to face life....and indeed I have gleaned a lot of info this morning about Weil's and Lyme's which will hold me in good stead in the future...Thanx.....

2.5k · March 17, 2005

I thought the advice for lymes was not only to wear long trousers but to liberally spray your legs with an insect repellent spray too. That's what is says in the shooting magazines anyhow.

I must say, I subscribe to the school of thought that exposure to a bit of muck is a good thing as you do build up your resistance to the common 'germs' then. Hand up who has heard the expression 'clean dirt and dirty dirt!'

Swimming next to the sewerage outfall, ah childhood memories of Whitley Bay! (don't pick up any balloons you may find in the tide though, your mum would not like it!!)

March 17, 2005

Quote

I must say, I subscribe to the school of thought that exposure to a bit of muck is a good thing as you do build up your resistance to the common 'germs' then. Hand up who has heard the expression 'clean dirt and dirty dirt!'

I totally agree with this sentiment....but at my advanced stage of life I think I have all the antibodies needed......and am only referring to Weil's as the problem...cos in 95% of cases when contracted by humans...the diagnosis is too late to avoid death....because of the early similarity to Flu symptoms.... :laughing: ...and that problems can be easily avoided by common sense....

Edited March 17, 2005 by Lowlander99

2.5k · March 17, 2005

I didn't say, but I too have wet wipes in the car and in my caching bag which I use to clean the worst of the grime off my hands, and I would not eat anything if I hadn't had a chance to actually wash my hands first (chocolate can be handled by the wrapper luckily).

I wonder how widespread Weils actually is?

I have to say, I NEVER drink beer from the bottle, as is the trend to do in many pubs, because beer crates are often stored in places where rats can run over them, and I just don't fancy the idea of drinking out of bottle that has had rat urine on it, just to save some landlord the expense of washing up glasses.

2.3k · March 17, 2005

When you are ordering your 'Skin So Soft' Forest Fragrence Dry Oil Spray in readiness for the midge & tick season make sure you add a couple of tubes of that anti-bac dry handcleaning gel.

Get the mud off with wetwipes then a liberal anti-bac hand wring will do the job.

1.2k · March 17, 2005

I have to say, when I read this thread and ones like it I think that antibac wipes and alcohol hand wash are things I'll buy now.

In reality, (so far) if I ignore diseases they generally ignore me. I used to swim in Bristol docks every day. Then a fishermen caught rat fever just by falling in! I'cve just remembered, my cousin used to eat cowpats when he was very young!

So, I have the best intentions, but I'm not going to change my life if real effort is required - the alcohol rub that disappears is a good idea that I may take up though, the effort to benefit ratio is good.

Adrian

2.3k · March 17, 2005

the alcohol rub that disappears is a good idea

That's the type of thing Avon do but I don't think there is alcohol in it. Otherwise I would have drunk it by now

March 17, 2005

I am going out to buy steel toe cap boots, inflatable jacket, hard hat, mail mesh gloves, safety glasses and self contained breathing apparatus. I hadn't realised the game was so hazardous.

Oh, and a little bell to ward off bears, you never know what's out there.

Mind how you go.

2.2k · March 17, 2005

Erm, would have thought that a gastric upset at this time of year is more likely to be caused by something like a Norwalk Virus, sometimes known as small round structure virus or in the papers when it shuts hospital wards as "Winter Vomiting"

About as common as the common cold virus or so I have been told. Carried on the air, in water and can remain active in dust for 3 months.

lasts about 24 hours for most people.

There are many things you could catch out there. Everybody up to date with their tetanus? You could write a massive list of things it would be possible to catch while out caching. Then an even bigger one for the things you could catch of the telephone mouthpiece I should imagine.

Think I will stick to not worrying about it.

March 17, 2005

........and after all that we would go down to the sea and swim right next to the sewage discharge pipe.....

Oh god! The memories come flooding back... I vividly remember swimming in the sea, and one day finding a bit with a nice warm current, so I swam extra there. God knows what warm stuff was being pumped into the sea, but you can almost guarantee that it wasn't good to be swimming in.

Still not dead, though.

Stu

Edited March 17, 2005 by stu_and_sarah

March 17, 2005

I'cve just remembered, my cousin used to eat cowpats when he was very young!

I've eaten soil, ants and also a few earthworms in my early years (with photos to prove it), and have even swam with the Mersey Goldfish (shudders).

March 17, 2005

I thought the advice for lymes was not only to wear long trousers but to liberally spray your legs with an insect repellent spray too. That's what is says in the shooting magazines anyhow.

The tics we bring home haven't read the correct magazines !

Edited March 17, 2005 by t.a.folk

2.9k · March 17, 2005

I would recomend the alcohol gel hand cleaners now being used all over hospitals as they will kill anything you might get on your hands when out caching. They cost £1.75 plus postage for a palm sized spray designed to be carried arround and not contaminated. You can get them from online medical supply websites. One of those dispensers (which come filled) lasts about 50 hand cleanings.

I took the easy way out and married a district nurse Our car is so well stocked, i still have problems when she mentions catheters though :unsure:

Anyone know what wiels and lymes disease were called before getting thier modern names.??

Bonus point for the FTR

Edited March 17, 2005 by markandlynn

2.3k · March 18, 2005

POX? :blink:

March 18, 2005

Weils (pronounced "Viles" which about sums it up) is Leptospirosis - I suspect it's always been caled that 'cos that's the name of the bacterium which causes it. Can't remember what Lymes disease's other name is.

And while I generally agree with the "some dirt" theory, no amount of exposure will give you resistance to leptospiosis OR Lymes. The reason why kids swimming in dirty water didn't die of Weils in the old days was that the cholera generally got 'em first.

3.7k · March 18, 2005

I take a few disposable rubber gloves with me in case the search includes as nasty, grubby bin bag, or a hole where you have to grope about with your hand without being able to see (no sniggers, please!). :blink:

They're very cheap from the supermarket, and the rubber is thin enough that you can still feel things quite well (I said no sniggering!) whilst getting protection from anything nasty (Oh...snigger if you like, I don't care).

HH

2.3k · March 18, 2005

OK so if we aren't surreptitious enough delving about in the undergrowth trying to avoid muggles - what reaction do you think you would get if you are also sporting a nice pair of latex gloves???

:blink: :lol: :huh:

Edited March 18, 2005 by The Hokesters

1.8k · March 18, 2005

When stocking my hand somwhere unpleasant I use the free gloves the petrol stations supply for people pumping diesel. Always pick up a pair when I put 5 litres of 2 star in the scooter!

2.3k · March 18, 2005

When stocking my hand somwhere unpleasant I use the free gloves the petrol stations supply for people pumping diesel. Always pick up a pair when I put 5 litres of 2 star in the scooter!

So now we know who is pushing up the price of fuel :huh: :blink: :lol:

3.9k · March 18, 2005

I have to say, I NEVER drink beer from the bottle, as is the trend to do in many pubs, because beer crates are often stored in places where rats can run over them, and I just don't fancy the idea of drinking out of bottle that has had rat urine on it, just to save some landlord the expense of washing up glasses.

Ahh, a wave of nostalgia sweeps over me for one of the great urban legends, but one which never fails to shock and entertain, despite being entirely false, as far as anyone can tell.

Now here's someone with the right idea :blink:

March 18, 2005

You know, it's amazing the human race has lasted this long.....................

:blink: :lol: :huh:

March 18, 2005

I have to say, I NEVER drink beer from the bottle, as is the trend to do in many pubs, because beer crates are often stored in places where rats can run over them, and I just don't fancy the idea of drinking out of bottle that has had rat urine on it, just to save some landlord the expense of washing up glasses.

Thought the trend for drinking out of the bottle was encouraged for reason other than saving landlord washing up .

One can keep ones thumb over the end when not drinking from it . A precaution against someone else slipping drugs into ones drink .

March 18, 2005

One can keep ones thumb over the end when not drinking from it . A precaution against someone else slipping drugs into ones drink .

Oh, shoot. I wish you hadn't told me that. That is another thing to keep me awake at night!!

:blink: :lol: :huh:

Health And Safety When Caching

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