Giardia Outbreak Lawyers

Foodborne illnesses like Giardia can have severe health consequences that may lead to significant financial loss and other damages. You shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden of someone else’s negligence.

Potential compensation can include:

Past and future medical costs
Lost income and employment benefits
Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Permanent physical limitations

If your loved one died due to Giardia contamination caused by another party, we can help you file a wrongful death claim. You may be eligible for compensation for funeral expenses, burial costs, lost inheritance, and more.

Who Is Liable for a Giardia Outbreak?

Determining liability for Giardia outbreaks depends on the specific details of your case. Identifying exactly where the outbreak began and the potentially responsible parties is essential. If you fail to name anyone in your Giardia lawsuit, you may not get all of the compensation you deserve.

In some cases, you can hold food producers, manufacturers, and sellers strictly liable for distributing food contaminated with Giardia.

Tracing Giardia for Liability & Negligence

Holding a person or entity responsible for a Giardia outbreak can be difficult. You must be able to trace your specific infection back to a particular grocery store, food manufacturer, restaurant, or other entity that handled your food.

Local and state health departments often perform tracebacks like this. Your diagnosing doctor or medical facility will report your illness to the health department.

How to Report Giardia

Health departments are not required to report individual cases of Giardia to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, you can make a report yourself by contacting the CDC directly.

When you report to the CDC, they will typically launch an investigation to determine how and why you became ill. Their report can be used in your Giardia lawsuit.

What Is Giardia?

Giardia is a parasite that causes a disease called “giardiasis.” Giardia germs can be found in soil, food, water, or surfaces contaminated with feces from people or animals infected with the disease.

Giardia lamblia is the most common species of parasite that infects humans. However, as many as 40 variations have infected animals.

How Is Giardia Contracted?

Giardia is easily spread from person to person or through contaminated food, water, surfaces, or other objects. The most common way people get sick with giardiasis is swallowing Giardia in water. This includes drinking water and recreational lakes, rivers, or pools.

Giardia is often considered a waterborne disease. However, it is also commonly transmitted via contaminated food.

Common Symptoms of Giardia

Many people with giardiasis have little to no symptoms. Those who see the effects of the illness will usually manifest signs within one to two weeks after becoming infected.

Common symptoms of Giardia include:

Dehydration
Stomach cramps
Abdominal pain
Diarrhea
Gas
Foul-smelling, greasy stools that float
Nausea
Vomiting
Bloating

Other giardiasis symptoms include itchy skin, hives, fever, and swelling of the eyes and joints.

Giardiasis can cause the body to have trouble absorbing nutrients like vitamin B12, vitamin A, fat, and lactose. Many people who suffer from Giardia infection long-term show significant weight loss.

People who contract Giardia are typically better within two to six weeks. However, some symptoms may take longer to resolve. Long-term complications may include reactive arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and diarrhea that recurs for years. Giardia can cause physical and mental delays and malnutrition in children.

How Is Giardia Diagnosed?

Since many of the most common symptoms of Giardia are seen with other types of food poisoning or illnesses, it can be hard to diagnose the disease. Diagnosis requires a laboratory test to identify the Giardia parasite in the stool of an infected person.

However, Giardia does not pass into the stool of everyone with giardiasis. Even when they are present, the concentration may not be heavy enough to detect with laboratory tests.

How Is Giardia Treated?

If you become ill with Giardia, the most important thing to do is avoid dehydration. You should drink plenty of fluids while experiencing vomiting and diarrhea. Dehydration may even become life-threatening in infants or elderly patients who will need intravenous fluids in a hospital setting.

Additionally, prescription drugs can treat Giardia, including large doses of vitamins to combat nutritional deficiencies. Patients with weakened immune systems may need to consult a specialist to determine their options for treatment.

Recent Giardia Outbreaks

According to the CDC and National Institutes of Health, each year, there are approximately 1.2 million cases of giardiasis in the United States, according to the CDC and National Institutes of Health. More than 3,500 require hospitalization.

Some Recent Giardia outbreaks worldwide include:

In Norway, 1,300 cases of giardiasis were reported, with an estimated 2,500 people total infected due to contaminated water supply in Bergen.
New York: multiple dogs became infected with Giardia from contaminated mulch at a dog park
Italy: 228 individuals became ill due to contaminated tap water

Talk to a Giardia Attorney Today

You have rights if you have been infected with Giardia due to someone else’s negligence. OFT Food Safety & Injury Lawyers has recovered millions of dollars for victims like you. Let us help you hold those responsible for your damages accountable.

Call 888-828-7087 now or contact us online. We help people throughout the U.S. with foodborne illness cases. Initial consultations are 100% free.

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If you or a loved one contracted Giardia after coming into contact with contaminated food or water, you should immediately get medical treatment.

Notable Recoveries

$10 million

$6.5 million

$7.55 million

$2.25 million

$45 million

$3.4 million

$3 million

$275,000

$525,000

$700,000

Compensation for a Giardia Lawsuit