[Duck bilharziasis in the medical anthropologic perspective. Interview data as a principle for public health control...

Trichobilharzia szidati causes a parasitic disease of water fowl that may lead to a badly itching but otherwise harmless dermatitis in man (swimmer's itch). At an outbreak at a small lake in Offenburg that is used for swimming, the state health office as the agency responsible for water quality control assessed the situation from an epiemiological perspective and took protective measures. A medical anthropological field study, employing the techniques of observation and interviews, looked into illness experience, behaviours and attitudes and thus provided an empirical basis for this assessment.