Seabather's eruption

Abstract

We report the case of a 35-year-old female patient who developed itching macules and papules on the skin after bathing in the sea. The affected skin surfaces were covered by swimwear. A few hours later she suffered from fever, headache, nausea, swelling of lymphnodes and arthralgias. Under therapy with topical corticosteroids the eruption cleared within 2 weeks. The seabather's eruption is caused by larvae of the jelly fish Linuche unguiculata or the sea anemona Edwardsiella lineata. The larvae occur along beaches of the east-coast of the USA and in the Caribbean.