Swimmer's Itch?!

[deerminator]

The lake chain we visit every summer has a nasty case of swimmer's itch going on. We love everything about the lakes but the itch. So my question is, what do you do to prevent swimmer's itch and deal with it afterwards? We put on lost of Swimmer's Itchguard. Or, I will put on baby oil and sunscreen liberally. Kind of feel like Hulk Hogan afterward. Ha. One of the kids gets it worse than the rest of us, much worse. We do our best to help him with topical benedryl gel and benedryl capsules before bed. We've also found covered skin = no swimmer's itch so we're looking into wet suits for him this year.

[BoxMN]

Wipe down, vigorously, all wet body parts with dry towels after coming out of the water. It used to help us as kids when using Square Lake park in Washington county, I don't think we ever "got" it as long as we did that. Good luck.

[nofishfisherman]

I think the biggest thing is to wash/rinse yourself off really well each time you come out of the water. You still may have some issue with it but it should be less. Square Lake has showers at the beach for this very purpose. Only been there a handful of times but never had an issue after rinishing off.

If one kid gets it worse you may ask a DR about taking something ahead of time to hopefully keep the reaction from getting bad. Preventative measures are usually better than reactionary.

[TruthWalleyes]

What is the cause of swimmers itch?

[BoxMN]

What is the cause of swimmers itch?

I think, if I recall correctly, birds that are infected with the "itch" [PoorWordUsage], and then the snails collect/eat it, then they release the little chiggers, then they burrow into humans or feed or whatever, and then birds eat the organisms, and then it starts all over again. OR at least that is what I recall hearing, though I never really looked it up, so that could all be wrong I recall mainly birds and snails...

edit - here is quick wikipedia summary:

A number of different flatworm parasites in the family Schistosomatidae are what cause swimmer’s itch. These parasites use both freshwater snails and vertebrates as hosts in their parasitic life cycles. Mostly waterfowl are used as the vertebrate host. During one of their life stages, the larvae of the parasite, cercaria, leave the water snails and swim freely in the freshwater, attempting to encounter water birds. These larvae can accidentally come into contact with the skin of a swimmer. The cercaria penetrates the skin and dies in the skin immediately. The cercaria larvae cannot infect humans, but they cause an inflammatory immune reaction. This reaction causes initially mildly itchy spots on the skin. Within hours, these spots become raised papules which are intensely itchy. Each papule corresponds to the penetration site of a single parasite.

The schistosomatidae that give rise to swimmer’s itch should not to be confused with those of the genus Schistosoma, which infect humans and cause the serious human disease schistosomiasis, or with larval stages of thimble jellyfish (Linuche unguiculata), which give rise to seabather's eruption. Seabather's eruption mostly occurs in salt water, on skin covered by clothing or hair, whereas swimmer's itch mostly occurs in freshwater, on uncovered skin.[3]

Since it was first described in Michigan in 1928,[4] swimmer's itch has been reported from around the world. Some suggest incidence may be on the rise,[5] although this may also be attributed to better monitoring.

[deerminator]

Thanks for the responses. Yes. I agree on the prevention. We do towel off and shower off right away. I think the problem with the kids is they like to play in the shallow water and the sand and that's apparently where there are more of the snails and parasites, etc. I think I will talk to the doctor this year too to see if there's anything we can do in terms of preventative stuff as well.