At the Annual Meeting people were talking about a rash that young and old alike had been contracting after being in the lake.
Our Ward 6 Coun. Doug Elmslie went into action on our behalf to find out what to do about this nasty condition. He wrote to Lynn Noseworthy, MD, MHSc, FRCPC, Medical Officer of Health Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit. and Christopher Beveridge, Director, Environmental Health, Haliburton County; Kawartha Lakes; Northumberland County.
I was at a Cottage Assoc. meeting today and people were talking about a “Water Rash”,apparently after swimming people within a day or so develop a rash that looks like small dots and are extremely itchy. After researching it on line they determined it came from snails, and the best treatment is to dry yourself with a dry towel immediately after swimming and don’t sit around in a wet bathing suit, if the rash develops take Benedryl.
I had never heard of this before but it seems to be quite common, my reason for telling you is several people have gone to the Emergency Wards for treatment, not knowing what it was. I was wondering about making sure the information and solution were accurate and putting out a press release on it,so people would know what they are dealing with and how to treat it.
Further to my e-mail of last evening, Chris Beveridge, our Director of EH reminded me that we have info regarding swimmers’ itch on our website… the link is: http://www.hkpr.on.ca/InfoSet/Environments/SwimmersItch.aspx
The link includes our Health Unit’s fact sheet as well as links to info from BC and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
UPDATE:
Just in case you thought it was over
On Aug 1st Sheri reports:
As an add in the the post on July 13th on Swimmers Itch by Sandy, our family was at the beach today in Fenelon and my son had a bad case about 1 – 2 hrs afterward. Uncomfortable and itchy with an awful pimple like rash on neck and back.
