Is there a potential danger of "swimmer's itch in Poland?
Tests with cercariae of Trichobilharzia szidati (Neuhaus, 1952) and Bilharziella polonica (Kowalewski, 1895) from naturally parasitised host snails from lake Jeziorak in north Poland were carried out on human volunteers under laboratory conditions. Only T. szidati was capable of causing the symptoms of "swimmer's itch". In the experiment with B. polonica no symptoms of dermatitis were observed either after the first or second exposure.
Bikowska
Elzbieta
E
Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Institute of General and Molecular Biology, Nicholas Copernicus University, Gagarina str.9, 87 - 100 Torun, Poland. ezbikow@biol.uni.torun.pl
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D003872:Dermatitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D011044:Poland; D012876:Skin Diseases, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D012908:Snails; D013550:Swimming; D013997:Time Factors; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology