Fishing Holes and Swimming Season is Upon Us - Beware!
The snow has finally melted, tulips are starting to spring up and the thermostat broke 60 degrees. “Mom, it’s hot outside! Let’s go to the park! When can we go swimming?”
Each year countless water fanatics are plagued with a patchy red pinpoint skin rash associated with itching on the parts of the body that have been in the water. Enter Swimmer's itch. Although typically not severe, the itching occurs within 48 hours and may last up to a week. After the initial fleeting itching, it will disappear without treatment. The main causes of Swimmer’s itch are parasites from aquatic/migrating birds. The life cycles of these parasites involve snails as the first host and aquatic birds or some mammals as the final host (read: seagull and duck poop).
Swimmer's itch crops up when a number of factors come together at the most favorable times. Such times include in summer when the water temperature reaches the appropriate level for snails to reproduce and grow rapidly, when migrating aquatic birds infected with the parasite return from their winter habitats or domesticated aquatic birds return to full activity and the frequency of swimmers and bathers reaches its peak during this period.
It’s everywhere! It’s everywhere! Not many areas are exempt from possible contact with the irritating itch. Its major cause was first identified in Douglas Lake, Michigan, USA. At one time or other in the past 70 years since it has been reported in almost every country in the world.
The best way to tell if you actually have Swimmer’s itch, and not chickenpox, poison ivy, herpes, or some rare skin diseases is word of mouth or public notice that where you swam is known to have had the itch occur there.
Don’t worry though, treatment is not always necessary if there are only a few itching spots. You can purchase an antihistamine or corticosteroid cream from your local pharmacy. Note: if the initial itching is brutal, then scratching can cause open skin and skin infections may develop. Consider seeing a dermatologist if the symptoms last longer than 3 days. At that point, you may need a prescription to help reduce the itching.
The ailment is really a disease of aquatic birds, therefore reducing the possibilities of the birds getting infected should be the main focus in getting rid of Swimmer’s itch. In some small ponds and lakes the snails that harbor the parasite can be killed by chemicals. That may not be environmentally feasible in all situations, though. A newer approach has been to place a drug for treatment of the parasite into food bait. Other drugs are currently being tested.
Unfortunately, the shallow and warm lakes are easy targets to catch Swimmer’s itch. Of course those are the little neighborhood fishing holes that kids love to play in. Keep your ears open or call the city/township office to see if there are any health alerts on your favorite swim locale.