Aquatic urticaria, commonly known as "water allergy"It is a strange allergy suffered by very few people in the world, to whom their own tears, sweat or water causes serious damage.
This is the case with Ivy Linn, an American girl of a year and a half who is living an ordeal because of this allergy. Your skin becomes red and inflamed as if it were burned, and the simple touch of water causes you a lot of pain. Her parents are desperate and have started a campaign on GoFundMe to try to help her little girl.
The strange case of Ivy
Yvy is 18 months old and lives with her parents and her newborn sister in Minnesota (United States). She was a happy and healthy girl, until ** six months ago she began to have skin problems ** that caused unbearable pain.
His parents realized that the rashes that came out coincided with the time of the bath, so they initially thought that it was an allergic reaction to the soaps they used.
So, they decided to suppress the cleaning products, change the detergent with which they washed their clothes and even try to bathe their daughter in hotels and friends' houses, thinking that the reaction could be due to the water in their pipes. But far from improving, the little one got worse at times and His body was covered with blisters, redness and terrible pain.
In Babies and more The strange case of Amelia, the little girl with laminar ichthyosis whose skin resembles the scales of a fishDesperate, the parents consulted with a specialist who gave them the terrible diagnosis: "aquatic hives," a very rare allergy that causes severe skin hives when it comes into contact with water, regardless of its temperature.
"My daughter used to love the bathroom but now she screams as if they were killing her when we tried to bathe her" - explains her mother to People magazine.
"He pain caused by water is like that of a third degree burn. He runs off and screaming, saying that the water burns him. It is very hard for a mother to witness such a scene "
Ivy's allergy is so severe that a bath of just 15 seconds causes a serious reaction. Nor can he play in the snow, or drop the raindrops or splash the water from an automatic watering. You can't even sweat or cry, because your body swells and reddens on contact with your own fluids.
Her parents are desperate and have tried everything to try to mitigate the unbearable pain the little girl is suffering. But for the moment, its only treatment are antihistamines Although they do not prevent the allergic reaction, they do help reduce their duration.
The future of the little girl
For the moment the girl does not react to drinking water, but his parents live in fear that one day his throat will swell as his skin does. In fact, they are beginning to notice that when Ivy drinks too much water or juices, she feels discomfort when peeing.
"We love her to death and we will do whatever is necessary for her. But also we are very afraid for your future. We don't know if he can go to daycare or what job he can do when he grows up "
The family is currently carrying out a fundraising campaign through GoFundMe to move to a new house with air conditioning and a purified water system, as that could help minimize the severity of Ivy's reactions.
"We currently live in a house that was built in 1901 and has no air conditioning. This is a serious problem for Ivy, because when the heat comes it will start to sweat and the reactions will appear."
What is aquatic hives?
As we commented at the beginning, Aquatic urticaria is a strange water allergy that has very few people worldwide and that it manifests itself in the form of hives, burning sensation, redness and blisters on the skin when it comes into contact with water.
Hives it can last from 15 or 20 minutes to hours, and sometimes it is also accompanied by other symptoms such as headaches and swelling of the lips, or in more severe cases of bronchospasm or obstruction of the throat.
According to the Information Center on Genetic and Rare Diseases of the United States, there is no certainty of what really causes this allergy, although researchers point to two causes:
- That it is a substance dissolved in the water that triggers the immune response when it comes into contact with the skin,
- Or that it is a substance that is in the skin that when coming into contact with water generates a toxin that causes hives
In any case, it does not appear to be an inherited disease and in most cases the affected individual has no family member with the same condition.
People who suffer from this allergy cannot enjoy a relaxing bath or a pool day, for just two examples. Nor can they get wet with rain, sweat because of heat, fever or physical exercise, as this could cause serious damage. Some extremely sensitive people can also manifest problems in their mouth or throat when drinking water.
As for hygiene measures, those who suffer from this disease cannot shower daily, and they have to do it covered in clothes and in the shortest possible time to minimize the impact of water on the skin.
Unfortunately, this allergy has no cure So the only way to treat symptoms is by taking antihistamines and moisturizing the skin with creams and ointments that help relieve the pain of hives.
GoFundMe Photos
Via People
In Babies and More One of every four children suffers dermatological alterations, Allergies in babies: Urticaria and angioedema
