A parasitologists (person who study's parasites) point of view on the giardia drama mentioned in Idubbbz newest video. (tried positng this to r/youtubedrama but they seem to have a little bias and wont approve it)

Authority on the topic: I am the head mod of r/Parasitology and r/parasites I have a PhD in biology I have even named a parasite species (wildlife parasite that infection a marine bivalve), and for fun I make educational videos about parasitology as i like clearing up myths about parasites. As such I thought it was time i weighed in on the current discussion about giardia as there seems to be a mischaracterization of the disease to support a narrative.

Now before i start I just want to preface, I have never watched ethans content or idubbbz content , Im sure there are valid criticisms of both side and im not interested in discussing who is right or wrong. HOWEVER, I feel like ethans giardia situation is being misrepresented. So first the biology of the parasite.

Little background on biology:

Giardia is a protozoan parasite that is transmitted via fecal contamination. This disease is often referred to as Beaver Fever, and is fairly common in people that go hiking, camping or spend time out doors with ~ 15000 cases reported in 2019 in the US (https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-water-data/documentation/giardiasis-nndss-summary-report-for-2019.html). The main way people obtain this is by drinking contaminated water which has the parasite stages swimming around (typically at the water edge for a lake) which likely got contaminated from a wild animal with the parasite, as its VERY common in wild animals. now the way the parasite works is it attached to a section in your intestine responsible for fat absorption, and this prevent your body from properly absorbing Fats, which is also the reason it is associated with waters and FOUL smelling diarrhea, because your body isnt absorbing properly this can also make it more messy that standard diarrhea.

Is it reasonable to think that E's paternal duties were bad due to his children catching this

Now E's Dog likely got it from a wild animal passing through their yard or something like that, as this is fairly common ( i know of several people whose dogs have had giardia and im in NJ), Now once his dog had giardia, it probably made a mess both in the yard and possibly accidents in the house, this is common under this circumstance. Unfortunately, E has young children who put EVERYTHING in their mouth, so this easily could've happened in the yard or in the house. A dog could of had some residual material on it that could easily spread to a child, or the child could have just picked up a contaminated piece of grass or even the dog could have licked its ass then licked the child. there are literally tons of options, and its really not hard to imagine. Again this is a very messy illness so its not hard to believe that feces would be everywhere. Also children love to not only put things in their own mouths, they often put their hands in others peoples mouths, which could have help the parasite spread from person to person.

Lastly, giardia takes a few weeks to developed (1-3 weeks for symptoms) so his child could have picked up the disease well before they realized their dog had something wrong with them.https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/giardia-infection/symptoms-causes/syc-20372786

Other fecal oral parasites/disease that are super common in america

Fecal oral parasites ARE NOT indicative of an unsanitary household when children get infected, children are just a little gross sometimes putting every thing in thier mouths and fecal oral disease in children are actually common. Another EXTREMLY common parasites found in children is pin worms with ~ 20% of all American children getting pins worms(https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/IDEHASharedDocuments/Pinworm.pdf) This is also a fecal oral parasite that is common in daycares because children scratch their ass touch toys and they put those toys in their mouths.

additionally polio was also a fecal oral disease that is only not present in america due to vaccines not cleanliness https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/poliomyelitis

Was CPS justified

Calling CPS of this is a disgusting act and it is NOT warranted. Feel free to criticize for whatever but to entertain that CPS call was justified and to mess with someone's kids is totally NOT ok. Upon watching the most recent Ian video i found that he defended this point (not super overtly, but he at least played it down and justified it a little) wrong and gross. you can have beef with each other and acknowledge that messing with someone's children and also WAISTING CPS resources on a pointless visit is a bad thing that should be 100% condemned

TLDR: E isnt a bad father for giardia infections occurring in his house, this is diseases transmission makes a lot of sense due to the habits of children, and anyone who is agreeing with the CPS call is letting bias influence their opinion and all parties should be able to agree that the CPS call was super fucked up