Cercarial Dermatitis

in #blog5 years ago

Cercarial dermatitis, is an allergic reaction which affects people who come in contact with a schistosomal parasite in fresh or brackish waters. This includes salt water such as lakes, ponds, or oceans. It does not occur in swimming pools which owners maintain well with chlorination because the snails which release the parasite are not present in these environments.

Not Seabather’s Eruption


This medical condition is not the same as jellyfish sting which is a form of seabather’s eruption. That skin condition stems from the larval stage of cnidarians which come in contact with humans who swim in aquatic waters. Seabather’s eruption, however, may affect areas of the human body underneath garments as these organisms become trapped there when the person leaves the water.

source

Swimmer’s itch, on the other hand, tends to affect skin areas which are open to exposure as the parasite burrows into the person’s dermis. Nevertheless, cercarial dermatitis does not really lead to a human infection because people are not a suitable host for it. In other words, humans are an accidental or dead end host for the parasite which dies within a day that it enters the skin.

After the parasite dies underneath the epidermis of the person, it releases a protein which causes an allergic reaction. This accounts for itching and skin lesions which appear. The more exposures a person has to the parasite, the more likely there will be an allergic reaction and the occurrence of symptoms within a couple of hours. In any event, cercarial dermatitis does not lead to death of the patient, and it does not transmit to other individuals.

Though cercarial dermatitis is the result of schistosomal infection, it is not the same as human schistosomiasis, which is a serious worldwide disease that affects millions of people.

Great Lakes Region


Swimmer’s itch is a worldwide medical condition, and the first observation of it in the United States occurred in 1928. It is not a reportable disease in many regions, and the prevalence may be difficult to ascertain. There have been many reports of it from the Great Lakes area and several other states in subsequent decades.

Sources


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