![]() This can trigger an allergic reaction in the form of violently itching red bumps that characterize swimmer’s itch. But Michigan has taken the lead in battling it with research and control measures targeting ducks that act as hosts to schistosomes-near-microscopic, wormlike parasites whose larvae try to burrow into people’s skin. Few officials take swimmers itch (also called cercarial dermatitis) very seriously as a public health problem. With summer looming and people heading for lakes and waterholes for a refreshing dip, those “little buggers” will again become, in parts of the U.S., a very big holiday nuisance. “There are days when I can feel those little buggers grabbing me right when I am coming out of the water.” “Moms will come down to the beach and say, ‘Is Leslie itching?’” says Ritter, who has become well acquainted with the parasites she lures with her body. Ritter’s statistics were instrumental last year when the MSIP successfully lobbied the Michigan legislature to fund research and prevention. If her skin starts to tingle, she knows something in the lake is after her-and swimming lessons are canceled.įor the past few years Ritter has been sending the results of her unusual experiment to the Michigan Swimmer’s Itch Partnership (MSIP), a coalition of more than 20 Michigan watershed associations that shares research and raises public awareness about something lurking in these waters-a scary-sounding parasite that can really ruin someone’s day, even if it has long been considered medically harmless. After 30 minutes she gets out and records wind and temperature data. As head of the lifeguarding program at the Congregational Summer Assembly (a vacation community in northwest Michigan), Ritter wades into Crystal Lake up to her knees. Wash your bathing suit in hot water and put it in the dryer to kill any larvae trapped in the fabric.Every morning for about eight weeks each summer, Leslie Ritter becomes bait. The more exposure you have to the jellyfish larvae toxins, the worse the rash will get. Remove your wetsuit or bathing suit when you get out of the water, and rinse off in the shower. Bathing suits made from tightly woven fabrics are better at keeping out jellyfish larvae than loosely woven fabrics. Don't wear a t-shirt or one-piece bathing suit into the ocean, because it can trap the larvae inside. Protect yourself when you dive by wearing a wetsuit. And you may not see any larger adult jellyfish nearby. Jellyfish larvae are as small as specks of black pepper, and just as hard to see when they float in the ocean. That’s when jellyfish release their larvae into the water.Įven the best precautions when you swim in these areas may not protect you. Use caution if you swim or dive along the coast of Florida or the Caribbean between May and August. The only way to avoid stings is to stay out of the water during peak season. Here are some things you should know before your next jaunt in the ocean. It’s the same thing full-grown jellyfish do, but it hurts a lot less. When they swim up under your bathing suit, they get stuck and release stinging toxins. The jellyfish larvae that cause this condition float in the ocean. Some doctors call the skin irritation "seabather's eruption." For some reason, though, in the 1950s, residents of coastal areas began to call the stings of jellyfish larvae “sea lice bites.” The name just stuck. Real sea lice are parasites that feed on the blood of salmon and other fish. Some people call the critters that gave them this rash "sea lice." But they're not lice at all. Sea lice bites are actually jellyfish larvae stings that form a rash after you swim in the ocean.Īfter swimming in warm ocean waters, some bathers discover a red itchy rash on the skin under their bathing suit.
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