| N also picked up the story, with more information (If you aren't a
member of TNS (The Naturist Society), it's worth joining, not only for
discounts, but also for their magazine.)
From Nude & Natural 12.3, pp 12-14:
Nudity Averts Lyme Disease, Sea Lice Stings
Go nude! If you want to avoid the serious consequences of stinging
jellyfish larvae or the toxic bite of deer ticks. This is cheering
news from science!
The jellyfish first, which is thimble-sized at maturity. Stinging
sea lice are its larval form. In recent years they've increasingly
stung the sea bathers of southeast Florida from Palm Beach county down
through the Keys, a well as through the Caribbean, starting each April
and into June.
Says the Palm Beach Post of October 25, 1992: "Based on what is known
so far, the researchers are already able to suggest a few steps bathers
can take to reduce their chances of getting stung.
"One is to swim nude, because most people are stung under their bathing
suits, which trap the sea lice larvae.
"The fact that most bathers are stung inside their bathing suits has
convinced the researchers that the suits are part of the problem. They
say suits seem to act like a seine net, straining the larvae out of the
water and holding them against the body. Body hair sometimes
accomplishes the same thing."
Swimming in a suit, then showering while still in it, is the worst
thing you can do, scientists say. The fresh water activates the larvae
stingers, caught in the suit fibers, into a firestorm of activity.
"You could swim nude and you wouldn't have as much of a problem,"
Terri Meinking likewise said. She's testing the blood of stung swimmers
for antibodies.
Alina Szamant, professor of biology at the University of Miami
department of marine science, is the research spokesperson. Coordinator
of research is Robert Tomchik, director of epidemiology for Broward
County and adjunct professor at the University of Miami medical school.
Research funding had reached only $6000 by last October and Szamant is
looking for grants. Those who fund sea lice research and the quest for
remedies -- nude or other -- will help to "keep the tourist industry
up", said Meinking. How about it, South Florida Free Beaches?
Now to deer ticks, which cause Lyme Disease. -- "Tick Bite Prevention:
Get Naked?" suggests the research report letter to the Journal of the
American Medical Association for January 27.
Henry M. Feder, Jr., MD at the University of Connecticut Health Center
at Farmington, writes thta he responded to a request by a Connecticut
nudist camp -- Solair, although Feder did not name it -- to discuss
Lyme disease.
"The nudist camp had abundant deer, woods, rocks, and grass -- an ideal
environment for the deer tick. Tick repellent was not used by the
nudists," who report but one case of tick bite on their grounds. Of the
300-plus naked people attending the doctor's lecture at Solair, many
spoke of being tick-bitten outside the nudist environment when they
wore clothing -- but not while being nude at their club.
A likely explanation, said Feder, is that "deer ticks do no like
nudists, as ticks prefer to do their biting under cover." Feder
promises to conduct under cover tick research soon.
Lyme disease often causes a rash and flu-like symptoms such as fever,
fatigue and aches. These symptoms may be followed weeks or months later
by neurologic, heart, or joint abnormalities. The disease was first
recognized in 1975 in Lyme, CT, 50 miles from Solair, ad has been found
in at least 43 states and in other countries.
The nudist way of prevention may be more effective than closely-tied
sleeves and pantslegs.
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