Cleaning Dishes, Avoiding Illness

The Fort Wayne (IN) News-Sentinel has an article in its 9 May 2007 edition that comes off the news wire from the McClatchy Newspapers. It's titled "Dr. Collins: Three-wash system will keep camp dishes clean" and is by Paul Collins.

He mentions that

"one study of the Appalachian Trail indicated that up to 56 percent of the hikers got sick at one point or another during the trip. Even groups that kept to a regular routine had a 45 percent chance of some or all of the members getting sick at least once."

His solution -- taken from researcher Joanna Hargreaves -- is a system that would be totally unworkable for backpackers: a three step wash-up of all cooking and eating utensils. First, a detergent wash; second, a chlorine wash; third, a clean (as in, boiled) water rinse. It could work in group camping settings, but hikers can't carry the 3 pots, detergent, and chlorine, let alone the fuel to boil that much water every day.

I usually cook by boiling a little water on an alcohol stove and pouring it into the plastic bag that's holding my dehydrated meal. It's a lightweight single use system. Haven't gotten sick yet.