The summer months are coming. Oh how time flies! Don’t we all have some good and bad beach memories? Like that time you learned how to swim, or that time you learned how to surf! Or how about that time you had an itchy rash after swimming? Cercarial dermatitis, or swimmer’s itch, happens when larval form cercariae causes an allergic skin reaction when it latches on humans, confusing it with a bird as its host. These cercariae’s life cycle begins when they penetrate into the organs of the host, usually a bird, and then resides in the organs near the intestines until it lays eggs. When the host defecates, the eggs are released from the body with it and hatches, called miracidium. Then, they swim their way to snails, and when it latches on to them, it grows longer and forms into cercaria. When they detach from snails, the cycle [...]
