Primarily yes, but Hanington says that he has seen a couple of examples of swimmer’s itch happening on beaches in marine environments, and a couple of examples along the Pacific coast as well. “We find that most lakes in Alberta have all the conditions in place to have swimmer’s itch,” he says. The website shows the bulk of the activity happens in Alberta, where the research team is based, but also in southern British Columbia and southern Ontario. They have created a website to track where outbreaks occur, SwimmersItch.ca. Patrick Hanington and his team of researchers at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health are trying to better understand the transmission of parasites to humans from snails, which will ideally lead to prevention strategies for swimmer’s itch. Luckily humans are not suitable hosts, but the larvae can still burrow into skin, which can cause a rash.ĭr. Infected snails pollute the water in their area with microscopic larvae, which then search for a suitable host, to continue the cycle. Once released into the water, the eggs hatch, releasing free-swimming microscopic larvae, which search for a certain type of snail to infect. The parasites produce eggs that are passed in the feces of the infected animals. Primarily found in lakes, it occurs when adult parasites infect the blood of aquatic animals such as ducks, geese, and swans, as well as mammals such as muskrats and raccoons. Trichobilharzia, one of the parasites that causes Swimmer's Itch in Alberta (University of Alberta)
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