AzT gastrointestinal illness alert

[hikeaz]

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) is investigating multiple reports of gastrointestinal illness contracted along the Arizona National Scenic Trail this spring ('25).

Hikers who experienced symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea after spending time on the trail are asked to complete a short, confidential survey to assist with the investigation. The survey can be found at tinyurl.com/illnessgi

Health officials are working to identify the source of the illness and are encouraging hikers to practice safe hygiene and food handling while on the trail.

[TooOld2Hike_EP]

On FarOut thru-hikers were reporting the above symptoms last month after drawing water from the Gila.

[Grimey]

Health officials ... are encouraging hikers to practice safe hygiene and food handling while on the trail.

Not many thru-hikers in the ranks of "health officials", I take it...

[xsproutx]

@TooOld2Hike_EP
I expect that was likely of crap for the source. People love blaming the Gila for so many things... Then, of course, the noro outbreak continued north with the bubble to pine and after...
The Gila has it's problems but it's fast moving and even noro has a hard time with that. Noro is stupid hard to kill, though, even with hand sanitizer, which is what most hikers are using. I suspect it started showing more around that area is because of the limited water resources/the touching required. You have the water collector on Freeman which nearly 100% of hikers will use, the spigot at the water deparment by the gila which is super popular, the water collector between Superior and the Gila that nearly 100% of people will use, and the several gates. That sort of vector with something like noro that can't be killed by the thing most hikers use to sanitize is a recipe for disaster. Once you have an outbreak on something like a trail, it's damn near impossible for it not to spread.
I have definitely done a couple of hikes this year that had uh... evidence... of people not having a good time. Most recently, last weekend on a section of the highline trail. It was disgusting but also made me really feel for whomever that was
Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long to see a big noro outbreak on the AZT. It's an every year sort of thing on the AT, with the shelters being so commonly used, and pretty common on the PCT. AZT now has enough traffic that we're seeing it here and I expect it to be an annual/close to annual thing like in those other locations.

[Grimey]

the noro outbreak continued north with the bubble to pine and after...

I had not heard that people were getting it that far north. If true, this could affect a lot more people than the AZT thru hikers.