What’s next for 2020?

Today we received an email about a family on the beach in Wildwood Crest getting sea lice bites. The have been reported from Monmouth down to Cape May County in New Jersey last week in local, regional and national news sources.  They’re actually Jellyfish Larvae

“My son was running around as if there was a bee in his shorts. So I quickly gathered our things. We own a condo in Wildwood Crest, NJ . We sit between lifeguard chairs 4 & 5 on Aster Ave. We got back to our condo and the lice were crawling all over both of us. We took hot hot showers and have all laundry on sanitary/extra hot cycle. Can you recommend anything else? They are so so small, whitish/grayish looking things. It was an instant biting, itching burning feeling within the undergarments/bathing suit.  My kids have never had lice so I don’t know if it’s similar. They were everywhere” By Regina Rice

Symptoms

You may notice a prickly or stinging sensation while you’re still in the water. But most of the time, it starts anywhere from a few minutes to several hours after you get out of the water.

A red, itchy rash will appear over parts of your body covered by your hair or bathing suit. This can include your groin, rear end, chest, neck, or back. You may have 200 stings or more.

 The good news, though, is that the tiny animals are more of a nuisance than a serious danger.

The larvae are transparent, so you can’t see them. And they’re so tiny (2 to 3 millimeters long), they get trapped in your hair, or in between your bathing suit and your skin.

When you get out, the water drains off of you, but the larvae stay behind. Your bathing suit rubs against your skin, causing the larvae to sting you and inject their toxin.

Info by WebMD