Two weeks ago I enjoyed a nice week of holiday in New Paltz. During the last day I made a bad mistake: I had no motel room anymore, so after climbing in the Gunks I cleaned myself in the river that constitutes the western border of New Paltz ("Walkill river"? not sure).

Few days later I felt ill and tired, and six days later I developped a horrible dermatitis where I had been in contact with mud and algae at the ground of the river.

Can you tell me which organism caused this? Back in Germany I am treated by several doctors, but it would be helpful to understand the reason of my disease better.

Thank you very much,
Christoph Pahl

Considering it took six days for you to develop the rash, it seems like the mud/algae might not have anything to do with it. As for being ill, or tired you might just chalk that up to jet lag.

I'm half Polish and half German.

Christoph,
the river you were in was the Wallkill, and it is not clean at all it has pesticides and all kinds of bad chemicals from agricultural runoff. so you might have some chemical reaction. (think of the Rhine river in Germany but this maybe worse now that the Rhine is a little better.) if your dermatitis looks like blisters then it is a chance you have poison ivy which you do not have in Germany (you have Brennesseln which only sting but this is much worse and takes a long time to go away. the rash itches a lot!) you can google on poison ivy and find out more. the lethargy you describe does not go with PI symptoms, so that might be something else!

good luck and feel better soon. (Gute Besserung!)

PS. people do fish in the Wallkill which is kind of weird, I don't think they eat those fish.

Phlan, people fish in the Hudson, East River, and Jamaica Bay, AND EAT THE FISH.

Despite some of the posters on this thread efforts at help, I think it isn't what ChristophPahl wanted. Can any pathologists step up here?

Irish? You got anything? Or did you forget all about the germs...?

Thanks, in fact the water didn't look good and I limited my bath to about 30s. But I don't think one can absorb so much poison through
water in such a short time (my lower legs look horrible, I've had blisters, and I still have "jetlag" 2 weeks after going home).
So that must have been poison ivy, I went through some dense brushwood to the river... I haven't even heard of that plant, but now I know it!

Sounds like Poison ivy. It can take a while to show up. Itchy red bumps. Scratching it makes it worse and helps spread the oil from the plant to other parts of your body (such as hands and face) As long as you don't damage the skin from scratching it, I would have little worry about any long term effect. (It usually takes 1-2 weeks for it to stop inching and resolve on its own)

As dirty as the water maybe in the Wallkill, its far from causing any major irritation or rash from a 30s bath.