SWIMMER’S ITCH
Susie Symes investigates the serpent in our watery paradise
THE ONLY PROVEN PROTECTION AGAINST SWIMMER’S ITCH IS NOT TO SWIM IN AFFECTED WATERS
Ouch!
HAVING PROUDLY SWUM THROUGH ICE THIS WINTER, WITHOUT EVEN A WISP OF NEOPRENE, I WAS EAGER TO CELEBRATE MY FIRST ANNIVERSARY SWIMMING OUTDOORS
Swimming at sunset, walking across moors or city parks to splash into dawn: these are glimpses of paradise for an outdoor swimmer. Sadly, in summer, there is a serpent in our garden: a tiny, fork-tailed, wormy parasite.
his parasite (of the family Schistosomatidae) causes ‘swimmer’s itch’ or more correctly cercarial dermatitis: an allergic reaction to the parasite – in its cercarial stage – burrowing into your skin.
These parasites normally live in waterfowl. As lakes and rivers warm up in summer, parasite eggs leave the host bird for an intermediate host, an aquatic snail. Eventually the cercaria hatches and sets of to ind a waterfowl host to begin the cycle again.