(Spirit Lake)– An old summertime nemesis is once again making its presence known. Swimmer’s itch has made a return. Daniel Kendall, an Environmental Specialist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the condition is caused by parasitic flatworms that can be present in lakes in a couple of forms…
“One of which is usually a bird, in this case, or a snail, an aquatic snail. What happens is people get in the water in vegetative areas where these snails live and can get infected by these larvae that come out. It’s not a parasite that we can get but it can penetrate the skin and then we have a histamine reaction to it and get the red bumps and mild burning sensation.”
Kendall says there are some things you can do to lessen the scratching…
“If you do get it a lot of those antihistamines and thinks like calomine lotion and stuff like that can help mitigate that itching sensation with it. But as soon as you get out of the water wash off and towel off vigorously. That can help if there’s any others that are still sitting on the skin that haven’t gone in to wash them away.”
He says the best advice, however, is to take some preventative measures…
“Obviously staying out of vegetation, that’s probably one of the big areas because that’s where snails like to live. And then there is some information, some of the sunscreens out there can help, like a protective barrier on your skin, so it makes it harder for them to get in, which is, you know, people are out there in the sun anyway so it’s a good idea to have sunscreen on.”
Kendall says it’s also a good idea to stay away from beaches being affected by waves.
