Swimmer's Itch... no fun

This last weekend was spent at my parents place which is a cabin on a lake in northern Minnesota. One day I was helping my dad do some work on the dock, so I was in the lake for over an hour in knee deep water. Shortly after I came out of the water my legs began to itch. I thought it might just be that they were dry, but the itching became intense. I applied calamine lotion and then resorted to onion.

I figured out that I had swimmer's itch. The next day I noticed that many small red bumps had formed on my legs, the itching wasn't not so bad, but it was a little annoying. Swimmer's itch is a small parasite that goes from snails to ducks back to snails during its growth process. It gets on your skin and tries to burrow in, but dies in your skin (your just too tough for it), this is the burning itch you feel aftward. Here are some recommendations for avoiding swimmer's itch.

1. Dry off thoroughly right away after leaving the water. Some of the parasites wait for the water on your skin to dry before commencing with the borrowing
2. Avoid areas where birds have been feeding and defecating.
3. Avoid shallow warm water, this is where snails reside.