Did you know there is a parasite common in Missouri freshwater lakes that can cause swimmer rash? As a follow up to my last article, we learned during the last Board of Director meeting of several additional families that experienced itching and rash issues with multiple individuals. My thanks to Gabby Smith, wife of Cameron Smith, Board Member who did all the research on the topic.
Swimmer’s itch, also known as Cercarial Dermatitis, is a skin rash caused by an allergic reaction to microscopic parasites that infect snails and some birds and mammals. The parasites are released into lakes. Symptoms of swimmer’s itch include itchy rash, raised red bumps, tenderness of the skin, tingling or burning sensation, and small blisters. Symptoms can appear within minutes or days after exposure and can last for several days. The rash usually affects skin that’s not covered by swimsuits, wetsuits, or waders.
Cercariae are the larval stage of the trematode class of parasites, and they are the infective stage that can cause Cercarial Dermatitis: Cercariae are tiny, free-swimming larvae with a forked tail and a tapering head with large penetration glands.
Treatment recommendations are to apply a corticosteroid cream, a cool compress, or an anti-itch lotion to the affected area. You can also soak in a colloidal oatmeal bath or an Epsom salt bath. If the individual is highly allergic, a visit to the doctor for prescription steroids may be required.
All of the reported issues we’ve gotten to date are in the cove areas, which corresponds with still water and capture areas for vegetation and wildlife protection. As you may remember we had an excessive amount of snails last year, and with the clear water, run-off, duck weed, and warm temperatures a breeding ground for toxic aquatic plants and parasites – a downside of a natural body of water.
Road and Infrastructure – the 2024 season is done outside of a few private driveway projects. The Roads Committee received a lot of feedback during and after the projects regarding communication to members. As you can imagine, the daily changes in road projects can be hard to keep up with and some members were inconvenienced coming to the closure only have to turn around for the long trek to the other entry. The Board of Directors in the last meeting talked about potential improvements overall that will be taken into consideration prior to the 2025 season.
Silt Basins Update – with a long stretch of dry weather the Operations crew has been hard at it to complete Silt Basin #3 (between Gate #3 & #4) clean up with the final basin berm completed. If you live in the area, you will notice an asphalt approach was laid recently part way up the entrance to the base of the basin. Next a new culvert and concrete approach will be installed around the first of October. The goal is to leverage our long arm excavator to have the basin itself dug out, so upon completion of the entrance, Dirt World can crank up its efforts on dirt removal. Please be aware of the dump trucks coming and going at Gate #4 due to the low-water crossing being closed.
Also, at Silt Basin #5 off E. Thompson Road, Tyler has been busy clearing the basin embankments and all the brush and trees from inside so that we can have our engineers determine best structure and confirm the liner is still intact. Both the old and new basins located here look a lot different, so for those of you that walk that area you’ll get a bit of a surprise.
The current plan once we finish at Basin #3 dig out is to probably move the long arm excavator to Silt Basin #6 on the east shore and begin digging out the west basin. We still need to do some additional planning on the final design for the basin requiring some additional test holes used to determine our options.
Courtesy Reminders – our trash service includes yard waste pickup of the paper bags up to 10 bags per home. Also, we will be having the fall clean-up day when the Martin Property will be open for members. If you need access to the Martin Property outside of the Clean-up Day you can reach out to the volunteers who are listed in the Lotawana News.
With all the kids back in school, there will be limited Water Patrol on the Pond for the balance of the season. Please continue to practice safe driving and follow the rules.
Sincerely,
Jeff Clemow
President