HLSIO conducts several initiatives that help us track our progress minimizing Swimmer’s Itch. These are all critical steps to understanding the elements impacting Swimmer’s Itch, as well as it’s prevalence.

They include:
Merganser trapping/relocation —as mentioned above, suspended once again by DNR/USFW due to risk of spreading Avian Flu — we are working on alternative solutions to present to DNR/USFW
Bird surveys —tracks quantity and types of birds on the lake
Snail infection rate studies —measures how many snails have the parasite causing Swimmers Itch

Water exposure study —tracks frequency of Swimmers Itch cases among regular users of the lake
Canada Geese Nest/Egg Destruction— Spring removal of nests and eggs has been conducted for several years. No action on hatched/hatching nests.
HLSIO.org website —for communications, as well as reporting of Swimmer’s Itch cases and merganser broods.
Over the past few years, we conducted the Higgins Lake Water Exposure Study. We extend our deepest gratitude to the dedicated volunteers who participated in prior years’ studies. Their enthusiasm as citizen scientists has been inspiring. We are gathering valuable insights allowing us to track Swimmer’s Itch outbreaks and better manage their occurrence. Understanding the affected areas helps us identify the causes and works towards effective solutions. However, we are eager to accumulate as much data as possible, as it will help in our efforts to demonstrate to the DNR and our Representatives the impact of Swimmer’s Itch.

So… what can you do?

Participate in our survey! We need more volunteers in 2025, particularly as we are concerned there will likely be an increase in Swimmer’s Itch cases due to more broods of Mergansers on the lake this Spring.

Here’s the process to share your experience:

First, sign up for the study at (https://forms.gle/SkuHfzymrxQnNXZD6).Then, after your time in the water, we kindly ask that you please fill out a short survey at (https://forms.gle/RSRfPVptroXVJ56J9) You should fill out the survey, regardless of how long you were in the water or whether or not you got Swimmer’s Itch.

The survey is quick and easy, and anyone using the lake can participate. Ideally, we encourage you to complete the online survey after each visit or whenever your friends and family spend more than a few minutes in the water.

If you think you are more likely to remember to record data if you had something at the beach or on the kitchen counter, we are offering an old-fashioned paper record! Just let us know and we will send you a paper sheet that you could keep in a convenient place to make your recordings. Then all you have to do is take a photo and send it to us, and we will enter in the data!

Other ways to support our efforts:

Stay informed: For further information on our initiatives regarding Swimmer’s Itch, including results from last year’s Higgins Lake Water Exposure Study, please visit our website at www.HLSIO.org. There, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of our work and the steps we are taking to address this issue. Knowledge empowers us to make informed decisions and drive positive change.

Donate: you can donate to us directly through the www.HLSIO.org or join us at our annual Fundraising Dinner at Witt’s Barn, Thursday August 14th. Tickets are for sale, reach out to Greg Semack at cmak3@msn.com, or higginsswimmeritch@gmail.com. It’s a fun evening with a lovely dinner catered by Fred’s and 100+ of your new best friends. Please join us for a little Swimmer’s Itch education, great food, and some nice music in an amazing place. Here is more information. If you have any questions or need further information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at higginsswimmersitch@gmail.com.

On June 28, 2024 over 2000 snails were collected at ten different locations on Higgins Lake. Each snail was individually analyzed for avian schistosome infections. With two common merganser broods on the lake for the entirety of last summer, we had anticipated a slight uptick in snail infections in 2024. We did not find such an increase, likely due to snail infection being reduced so low in the past that a sample size of over 2000 snails is unable to provide anything of consequence. From the inception of Trap and Relocation work in 2015 the SIS website was able to accept information about SI cases throughout the summer. With the advent of the suspension of the program in 2022 we looked for another method of
monitoring SI cases. At that time the Higgins Lake Water Exposure study was initiated, and we have obtained data from swimmer’s experiences not only in 2022 but also in both 2023 and 2024. This data tells us when and where Swimmers Itch cases occur. We hope to develop patterns to analyze and help us determine how to better combat SI on Higgins Lake in the future.

Results of all monitoring show that cases on Higgins Lake increased a modest 2.34% in 2024, even though there were non-relocated birds on HL in the summer of 2023. In contrast, on Crystal Lake, SI cases increased from less than 1% to over 10% in 2023 and were further elevated in 2024. Additionally, most cases on Higgins Lake continue to be mild while some on Crystal Lake were quite severe. In 2023 and again in 2024 we sponsored research with the goal of knowing more precisely how quickly the parasites in newly infected ducklings became viable and began potentially infecting snails.
As a result:

1. As expected, ducklings at the youngest ages (12, 15, 17, and 18 days old) were negative.
2. Ducklings were first found infected at 3 week (21 days old), but producing parasites at a very minimum.
3. The proportion of infected ducklings continues to increase with age, reaching peak parasite shedding at the 5 to 6 week period.
4. All the oldest ducklings (52, 61, and 65 days old) were positive, and some were shedding very large numbers of parasite eggs, many times higher than younger ducklings and their mother hens.
5. Second-year adults (who don’t yet breed but are present on Higgins Lake and other inland lakes in the summer) can have exceptionally high parasite egg counts, though there is variation. Three juvenile birds that were tested in 2024 were actually parasite free. Speculation was that possibly these birds came from relocation site environments where there were no snails present or possibly parasite production is greater between June 19 and July 1 and lessor between July 13 and July 24. It’s also possible that parasite outlook is somehow related to migration and after the migration period, production subsides, or perhaps parasite creation may be diminished as host immune systems mature. In any case, HLSIO intends to continue with the proven success of our relocation program and is already making plans to structure our program for next summer. Thanks to all our supporters for helping to keep Swimmers Itch to a minimum at Higgins Lake.

Your HLSIO Board,
Melanie Brown, Bill Carey, Phil Czech, Duncan Lawrence, Dale McDonald, John Ogren, Mike Purkey, Greg Semack

Please help us keep Swimmer’s Itch prevalence low by reporting cases to (http://swimmersitchsolutions.com/higginslakereportacase/), or by joining our Water Exposure research team (complete a short survey after spending time in water). If interested, please send an email to higginsswimmersitch@gmail.com.

Paper title:  Swimmer’s itch control: Timely waterfowl brood relocation significantly reduces an avian schistosome population and human cases on recreational lakes

 and the link:   https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0288948