![]() The incidence of acquiring Swimmer’s Itch is unpredictable, but there may be factors that increase the likeliness of getting it. “They can’t complete their life cycle in a person, but they’ll still try to penetrate our skin which is the mechanism of infection causing the Swimmer’s Itch.” ![]() Thomas Raffel, an associate professor at Oakland University, said. These parasites “like to move towards light up towards the surface of the water which is where ducks and geese would be floating and swimming, and they are trying to infect a bird,” Dr. The parasite burrows in human skin, causing the rash, but it cannot survive in humans and advance in its life cycle. Sometimes, the parasite may attempt to penetrate the blood vessels of an unviable second host: humans. Parasitic eggs located in the feces of the waterfowl are then released into the water that hatch into miracidia that develop in their intermediate hosts, snails, before producing the cercariae that infect the parasite’s second host, waterfowl. ![]() Cercariae of certain species of schistosomes (larval form of a parasite that requires two hosts to complete its life cycle) penetrate the skin and enter the blood vessels of waterfowl. The red, itchy blisters form a rash called cercarial dermatitis, colloquially referred to as Swimmer’s Itch and are caused by parasitic activity in the water. What are these blisters? How did this happen? After a while, you notice red, itchy blisters forming on your legs. Picture this: You’ve spent the day swimming in one of Michigan’s many lakes.
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