Swimmer's Itch - Other Names

Other Names

Swimmer's itch has various other names. In eastern nations, it is often named in reference to the rice paddies where it is contracted, producing names which translate to "rice paddy itch". For example, in Japan it is called "kubure" or "kobanyo", in Malaysia, "sawah", and in Thailand, "hoi con".

In the United States it is known to some as "duckworms" (in coastal New Jersey) or duck lice, and "clam digger's itch".

In certain parts of Canada, mainly Ontario, it is known as "Duck Lice" and "Beaver Lice".

In Australia it is known as "pelican itch".

In Western Minnesota, particularly on Lake Minnewaska, it is known as "lake itch".

Similarly in Brazil, the waterbodies in which it is contracted are called lagoas da coceira ("lagoons of the itch"). All medical conditions caused by blood-flukes including swimmer's itch, nevertheless, are called either by the formal ones esquistossomose or bilharzíase, or by the colloquial barriga d'água ("belly of water"). This is not completely due to ignorance, but also by the fact that the only Schistosoma species significantly occurring in Brazil (Schistosoma mansoni) is among the responsibles for human schistosomiasis, so one has to avoid any lagoa de coceira or swimmer's itch with the intent of not getting the disease.