![]() This process would need to be repeated each spring, as the mergansers will return to the same nest sites year after year. The volunteers then inoculate the birds to kill the parasite, clip their wings, and then transport them to a neighboring body of water. Blankespoor will travel to a lake and train volunteers to capture the merganser (which are notoriously wily birds) in specially designed nets. Blankespoor has developed a control program that is somewhat controversial and very expensive, but has been implemented successfully in Michigan. It is always good advice to discourage residents from feeding the ducks, but feeding attracts mostly mallards, which are most likely not infected.ĭr. So, what can be done? The easiest answer is to eliminate the merganser, but there is no easy and acceptable way to do that. On Little Sebago, we estimate that we only have a few families of mergansers, but because they are so mobile they can do a lot of damage. As they swim, they defecate and infect the snail beds they pass over, thereby spreading the infection throughout the lake. They eat fish exclusively, nest in the same site year after year, and are extremely mobile, swimming several miles each day around the lake in search of fish. When considering how to eradicate the problem, it is helpful to understand a little bit about the merganser’s habits. Why it is only the mergansers is unclear – it may be because their diet is exclusively fish or because of some factor of their physiology that makes them especially good hosts. Consistent with his findings in other lakes in Maine and Michigan, he discovered that only the merganser carries the parasite responsible for swimmer’s itch. He visited our lake and collected droppings from mallards, mergansers, and cormorants. Harvey Blankespoor of Hope College in Michigan, who is one of the few biologists in the country conducting research and taking the problem seriously. Some people are more susceptible to it than others, just as some are more sensitive to poison ivy or poison oak. Swimmer’s itch, by itself, is not communicable or dangerous, but it is extremely annoying and may become infected. These tiny red marks will turn into raised bumps, which may come to a head and itch intensely for several days before they disappear. The swimmer may immediately experience an intense itch over all or part of their body, and upon examination, will see red pinpoints where the parasite entered the skin. When the swimmer comes out of the water and dries off, the parasite will burrow into the skin and will cause the itchy, allergic reaction.Ī person who has contracted swimmer’s itch usually is not aware of the infection until he/she emerges from the water. Normally, these small organisms migrate back into ducks, but if a swimmer gets in their path, they will attach themselves to human skin. These parasites, which are not visible to the naked eye, travel from the waterfowl droppings to host snails, which then release the parasite into the water.
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