NORTHERN MICHIGAN (WPBN/WGTU) — Many Michiganders enjoy spending the summer swimming in our many lakes.

But fear of swimmer’s itch can keep some from enjoying the water.

Swimmer’s itch is a skin condition caused by larval parasites that burrow into our skin.

It is common during the summer when many people swim in the inland lakes.

“They’re actually looking for the skin of a waterfowl, a duck or a goose. And when they get into our skin, that’s when they die and our body reacts to them,” said Lake Leelanau Lake Association Lake Biologist Ron Reimink. “Some people have a reaction where you get a red bump, a papule that will often be quite itchy.”

For nearly a century, researchers and scientists have tried to find ways to control swimmer’s itch. But new research has shown that these parasites are more useful than we imagined.

“They are like mosquitoes in the terrestrial ecosystem. You say, well, what are mosquitoes good for? Well, mosquitoes are one of the basic foundations for the functioning of the ecosystem. So are these larvae,” Reimink said. “And so to eliminate or even reduce them, you’re actually going to have a bigger impact on the lake than you might imagine.”

So there’s been a shift in thought process from trying to control them to finding ways to prevent that from happening without harming the ecosystem.

“What we’re trying to do with our research is empower people and give them preventative measures that I can do for my kids today to prevent them from getting swimmer’s itch,” Lime Lake biologist and biology professor St. Joseph. Kelsey Froelich said.

Research found by Froelich along with Reimink and Dr. Patrick Hannington of the University of Alberta supports three main points for preventing swimmer’s itch:

1. Wear a protective cover as a protective device
2. Swim later in the day, closer to evening
3. Pay attention to wind direction and plan accordingly

“Look at the wind direction. So imagine these cercariae are like pollen floating on water. And if the wind blows, it will blow the pollen downwind. And so if we have an onshore wind, we’re definitely not going to swim very close to shore because those cercariae are going to congregate there,” Froelich said.

“If you know this information, the take home is that it’s easily preventable,” Reimink said. “No one has to ruin their vacation because of swimmer’s itch.”