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Swimmer's itch Symptoms & Remedies

Swimmer's itch is skin rash that is red and patchy and itches on those part of the body that have been exposed to water while swimming. Its technical name is cercarial dermatitis and it is known in certain countries as "rice paddy itch", "clam diggers itch", "sawah" in Malaysia, "kubure" or "kobanyo" in Japan, "hoi con" in Thailand and "Duck worms" the US.

Now, let's consider what swimmer's itch is not:

1. It's not a disease
2. It's not contagious
3. It's not dangerous to us
4. It's not found on everyone

Causes: Aquatic or amphibious snails release the larval parasite, cercaria, and dermatitis when it mistakenly penetrates a swimmer's skin through the host, usually a duck. This is common both in freshwater and in marine coastal environments. Carriers of this infection are the common grackles, red-winged blackbirds, ducks, geese, swans, muskrats and moles.

These parasites are released from infected snails, which migrate through the water, and can penetrate human skin. Once they have penetrated our skin, these parasites remain in the skin and die there but can cause an allergy in some people.

However, this is not a severe itch—in fact, after the initial itching, it disappears without treatment. Itching occurs within 48 hours and may go up to a week. A major cause of swimmer's itch is the presence of trematode parasites of aquatic or migrating birds. Their life cycles involve snails as the first host and aquatic birds or mammals as the final host.

Jellyfish nematocysts remain active for months and can persist in clothing or swim wear with symptoms recurring whenever you wear the same clothes.

Signs and symptoms: Within minutes of emerging from swimming in infested water, you will experience tingling, burning or itching of the skin. Soon after, you will see small red pimples, usually within 12 hours of swimming. These pimples can develop into small blisters. Itching goes on for a week.

Treatment: To ward off the effects of some species of schistosomes that cause swimmer's itch, it is best to towel off immediately after swimming or wading in infected water. You can also try to swim away from the shore and do not swim in areas where snails have accumulated.

If you have just a few itchy spots, you might not need any treatment, but once the itch occurs, wash the affected areas with isopropyl alcohol and coat it with calamine lotion. You can also use an antihistaminic or mild corticosteroid cream, but if the itching is severe, take care not to scratch so hard that it causes abrasions and skin infections. For secondary infections, use antibiotics and if the reaction is severe, take oral steroids.

You could also try taking cold compresses, bathing with baking soda or colloidal oatmeal or applying baking soda paste to the affected area.

Home remedies: You could try these options, while at home:

• Wash your body with salt water, acetic acid (vinegar), methyl alcohol or dilute (1:10) household ammonia.
• Use Benadryl spray all over the body to reduce itch and pain.

Don't let this itch stop you from swimming completely. With this experience, all you need to do is to be careful of where you swim next and to towel yourself dry the moment you are out of the swimming site.