The director of the Chana Hospital in Songkhla in the south of Thailand said that 233 people had sought medical help after showing symptoms of the skin rash known as “swimmer’s itch”.
Over the last two months people working in fields mainly had the condition on their arms and legs.
Dr Suphaphat Hasuwannakij suspects many more people were infected but perhaps not serious enough to warrant a hospital visit or who waited for the condition to subside.
It was the worst outbreak in 20 years, he said.
The condition is known as “roke hoi khan” (the disease of itchy shellfish) in Thai that is formally called cercarial dermatitis in English.
It is caused by a parasites and is found in water including lakes and rivers and symptoms usually present themselves a day after the patient comes into contact with the parasite.
This article is taken from ThaiVisa