'Swimmer's Itch' in the San Francisco Bay

[marmar]

An invasive snail recently discovered in San Francisco Bay has brought along its own unwelcome stowaway: a parasitic worm responsible for only the second known outbreak of "swimmer's itch" along the Pacific Coast of the United States.

Both the initial reports in the mid-1950s and the ongoing incidents of swimmer's itch - an itchy, red rash with pustules similar to those caused by poison oak - occurred at Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda, according to Andrew Cohen, director of the Center for Research on Aquatic Bioinvasions in Richmond.

"It's really a bizarre coincidence that it would strike the same beach twice so many years apart," Cohen said.

This month, Cohen co-authored an article on the outbreaks for the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. In it, researchers detailed the most recent onset when 90 elementary schoolchildren contracted swimmer's itch in 2005 after a visit to Crown Beach for an end-of-the-year picnic. Seventy-one additional cases have been reported to Alameda County public health authorities since then. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/30/MNAT1FLPHC.DTL#ixzz114VuEkwv

[uppityperson]

1. weird, we got it in lakes in MN way back. It is in salt water? Very odd

[Drale]

2. Do people swim

in San Franciso Bay? I was under the impression it was full of sharks.

[sakabatou]

4. People do swim in the Bay, though it's fucking cold

No, it's not full of sharks.

[Drale]

5. Honestly

thats what I heard, I was under the impression that was one of the reasons no one ever escaped from alcatraz.

[sakabatou]

6. There are some sharks

As for Alcatraz, it was mainly due to the currents. Lots of rip tides around that place (I think).

[Drale]

9. See its true

you learn something everyday. :fistbump:

[AndyTiedye]

13. Anyone Who Did Escape Would Want Everybody to Think They Drowned

The currents should not be an insurmountable obstacle, you just need to figure out when the tide is coming in and go then.

Alcatraz had a reputation as a prison that was impossible to escape from,
and both the prison and any prisoners who actually did escape would want to keep that reputation intact.

If you escape from prison and everything thinks you got washed out to sea, then nobody comes looking for you. :)

[AtomicKitten]

3. That's just nasty.

"swimmer's itch" ---> :rofl:

[Occulus]

7. I had it when I was a kid.

It's caused by a parasite in the host species' digestive tract. It gets in the water when the snail defecates.

The parasite burrows into the skin and lays its eggs (the red pustules), which then hatch and burrow out overnight. The cure is a topical lotion applied to all parts of the skin that kills it.

It's generally less than fun.

[AtomicKitten]

8. Sounds like the earwig episode from the Twilight Zone.*

:scared: -----> http://unicornbacon.com/scarred/?p=216

[Hassin Bin Sober]

12. I was up near Glen Arbor in July and heard it was in some of the small lakes near by.

We only swam in the big lake.

[NYC_SKP]

10. Just this evening I watch several swimmers in the bay by Fort Mason.

With kayaks following.

As if swimming in the icy water isn't crazy enough, they're doing it at the risk of "Swimmer's Itch"?

Go figure...

:P

[stevedeshazer]

11. SF Bay is a cesspool.

No offense to Bay Area DUers, but I wouldn't swim in that thing any more than I would in my beloved and radioactive Columbia River.

Much of Sacramento's effluent goes down there. Eww.