![]() ![]() ![]() Each day, residents and guests were listed by initials, age, and sex. The diary booklet had a page for each day, plus information sheets (e.g., swimmer’s itch criteria, lake map with numbered areas). Water exposures and trouble with swimmer’s itch were recorded for all residents and guests at the household. Participating households filled in a diary for the month of July 2000, a peak period of water use and swimmer’s itch complaints. Project advertisements were posted around the lake, and households were recruited by personal visit in late June. Inclusion criteria were that residents planned to be at the lake for 2 weeks or longer in July and used the lake regularly for swimming, wading, or other activity involving direct contact with the water. Riparian (lake perimeter) households were the target sample. The lake covers 15.33 sq km and has a maximum depth of 24 to 25 m. Preventive actions before or after water exposure have been proposed, but no scientific evidence exists on their efficacy.Ī prospective survey of swimmer’s itch among persons with water-based activities was conducted in July 2000 at Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan. Intense itching and papules are present 10 to 15 hours later, continuing for about a week. Mild itching and macular eruptions occur 1 to several hours after a person leaves the water. If instead they penetrate human skin during recreation or work in the water, an inflammatory response occurs. At one point in the cycle, snails release cercariae (free-swimming larval stage of the parasite) into the water, where they may encounter and enter ducks and other birds. The schistosomes for swimmer’s itch have a 2-host life cycle, an avian definitive host and a snail intermediate host. 29, 30 We conducted a prospective study at a Michigan lake to obtain an incidence rate and identify risk factors for swimmer’s itch. 2– 14 The literature on humans and swimmer’s itch consists largely of clinical and outbreak reports. Since discovery of the parasites responsible for swimmer’s itch, 1 most research has focused on the schistosomes’ life cycle and biological control methods. It causes intense discomfort, discourages recreational water use, and leads to economic loss for lake regions if people decide to vacation elsewhere. Cercarial dermatitis, or swimmer’s itch, is a skin condition that affects people engaged in open-water activities in fresh and salt-water areas around the world.
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