09-28-1988 - Agenda Packet City Council - regular meeting

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C?WARNING 97 SWIMMERS ITCH, SWIM AT OWN RISK, DRY YOURSELF ►� COMPLETELY AFTER COMING FROM WATER ' MICH. DEPT. NATURAL RESOURCES Harvey D. Blankespoor, Ph-D., Biolog Department, Hope College and the University of Michigan Biological Station, Pell, and Ronald L. Reimink, Hudsonville Public Schools Each year thousands of swim- mers and vacationers take a dip into our nation's lakes and unknowingly subject themsel- ves to an intense skin rash and several days of misery. This condition, schistosome cercarcial dermatitis or swimmer's itch, has defied preventive efforts until now. A group of researchers at Michigan's Glen Lake have developed a new technique for alleviating swimmer's itch. This technique involves breaking the life cycle of the parasite causing swimmer's itch, and appears to be more effective and less costly than methods previously used Swimmer's itch is caused by a parasitic flatworm that lives in the bloodstream of aquatic Page 4 LAKE LAVE, September I M birds. Its life cycle begins when bird excrement containing the flatworm's eggs passes into lake water. The eggs then hatch into larvae that penetrate a specific kind of snai:. After several weeks within the snail, a second larval stage (called a cercaria) emerges. Normally the cercaria penetrates the skin of ducks, geese or other aquatic birds, but it may also enter the skin of a human swimmer. If this happens, the cercaria dies, leaving a raised and reddened papule on sensitive individuals. The papule will itch intensely for three or four days before subsiding. Young children who play along the water's edge are especially vulnerable to swimmers itch and it is common to see a youngstel with several hundred papules. The result is several sleepless nights which, for tourists, can spoil a vacation. A problem in many other countries, swimmer's itch is prevalent in the midwestern United States. In Michigan alone, approximately 20 kinds of parasites produce swimmer's itch, each species often usirg only a soecillc snail and bird as its hosts. Thus the itch -causing parasites may be different on adjacent lakes, making treatment more difficult. In 1983 the Glen Lakes Association of Michigan began a research program that has made great strides toward ending the ;Nimmer's itch problem The association provided financia! support, volun- teer help and equipment for the first summer of re- search. AnJ, until 198E, additional funds were provided by Michigan's State Departments of Com- merce acid Natural Resources.