The itching is severe and doesn't improve after 24 hours of using a corticosteroid cream.Make an appointment with your healthcare provider if: Some cases of swimmer's itch do need medical attention. When to Get Medical Help for Swimmer's Itch It may also help to take an antihistamine (allergy pill). Your options for soothing the rash include: Most cases of swimmer's itch can be treated at home. They may want to post warning signs to protect other people. If you get swimmer's itch, let a health official know. Not feeding birds around swimming areas as it can increase the amount of feces-and therefore parasites-in the water.Not going into marshy areas, which often have a high snail population.Not swimming in areas where it's a known problem or warning signs are posted.Towel-drying immediately after getting out of the water.You can lower your risk of developing swimmer's itch by: However, you may develop a chlorine rash, which is a type of irritant dermatitis. You can't catch swimmer's itch from a swimming pool. Appears under the swimsuit after extended exposure Seabather's eruption: Very itchy rash caused by hypersensitivity to jellyfish larvae.Pseudomonas rash: A bacterial infection that looks similar to swimmer's itch but may have a white dot in the middle of each discolored bump.Cyanobacterial (blue-green algae) rash: Large, itchy, discolored patches with broken skin.Swimmer's itch isn't the only rash you can catch from natural bodies of water. You may develop the allergy and the rash it leads to after repeated exposure to the cercarial larva. It also means swimmer's itch isn't contagious, so you don't have to worry about giving it to (or getting it from) people around you. Humans aren't good hosts for them, so they die off before long, which means not everyone who enters water will get swimmer's itch-you must have an allergy to the larvae. The cercarial eggs pass into the water through the feces of infected animals.Īfter they hatch, the larvae burrow into your skin, creating an itchy rash. CausesĪn allergic reaction to cercarial larvae causes swimmer's itch. Repeated exposure may also make the symptoms more intense. The more often you go into contaminated water, the more likely you will develop symptoms quickly. The pimples may develop into small blisters. The tingling, itching, or burning sensations start first, followed by pimples in about 12 hours. Symptoms of swimmer's itch can start anywhere from a few minutes to a few days after you swim, but it often begins within two hours of swimming. The longer you're in the contaminated water, the more likely you are to come into contact with the larvae. How Long Does It Take to Get Swimmer's Itch? Rashes that look pink or reddish on light skin may appear pink, purplish, darker, or lighter shades than the skin or simply like bumps with no discoloration. Your skin color can affect the appearance of a rash.
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