The parasites that cause swimmer's itch come from various combinations of snails and waterfowl.
#Willard bay swimmers itch skin#
Swimmer's itch is a rash usually caused by an allergic reaction to parasites that burrow into your skin while you're swimming or wading in warm water. Swimmer's Itch has risen high among the priorities of the users of Black Lake in recent years. stagnicolae levels in Black Lake decrease. We continue to believe that the frequency and severity of swimmer’s itch cases will continue to decrease as the T. Recent evidence we have conducted this year further supports this conclusion. stagnicolae, to swimmer’s itch cases on Black Lake. szidati means that these parasite species are also cycling on Black Lake, and likely contributing, albeit to a much lesser extent than T. The verified presence of avian schistosomatid C and T. We'll be attentive to this issue in 2022.Īs we’ve made clear in the past, it’s impossible to completely eradicate swimmer’s itch on any lake. This species has never been detected in northern Michigan lakes before. Unfortunately, a new species that uses mallard ducks as the host was detected. Remember that the actions that we take in 2021 will affect our measures in 2022, so we are optimistic for improvement this year. We don't have a baseline comparison for that measure, but will have it for 2022. 19 cases of Swimmer's Itch were reported on Eyes on the Lake in 2021. These results were substantiated with chance encounters with property owners that reported a very noticeable change in their experience with Swimmer's Itch was greatly improved. The parasite was detected in only 2 of 7 testing sites (vs 5 of 7 in 2019). Tests of lake water, bird fecal matter, and snails reports that the relocation of the common mergansers has resulted in substantial decrease in the swimmers itch parasite. They responded by trapping 5 broods including all 31 ducklings and relocated them to locations that don't have the snail that completes the lifecycle of the parasite that causes swimmers itch. Well, they were right about that! BLPS members reported 17 merganser sightings on Eyes on The Lake that alerted SI Solutions automatically. Below are links to all of our research publications.Our partner, Swimmer's Itch Solutions, told us that after two seasons we should see a dramatic change in swimmer's itch cases on Black Lake. All of our research is undertaken with a vision for eventual publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and when possible, we make that research open access to ensure that those affected by swimmer’s itch can access our work. We undertake long-term, planned research projects that aim to answer specific questions related to the parasites that cause swimmer’s itch and how their impact on water recreation can be minimized. Our primary goal is to advance our knowledge of swimmer’s itch. This international collaboration has been partnered since 2016 and has made a number of important contributions to our understanding of swimmer’s itch in North America. Patrick Hanington in the School of Public Health at University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), and Ron Reimink and his team of researchers at Freshwater Solutions LLC (Michigan, USA). The core of our swimmer’s itch research team is formed by the laboratory of Dr. We also aim to apply our knowledge of swimmer’s itch causing parasites and their hosts to advancing novel control strategies that can exist in harmony with the environment and those who use water for recreation. We’re interested in learning more about the biology and ecology of the parasites that cause swimmer’s itch and about the environmental factors that influence where and when these parasites emerge from their snail hosts. Since 2012 we’ve been working to advance our understanding of swimmer’s itch.