A toddler in Minnesota and her parents are dealing with an allergic reaction no child has ever had to deal with at such a young age before. Ivy Lynn Angerman, the 18-month-old daughter of Brittany and Dan Angerman, developed severe reactions to water when she was about a year old, her parents told KMSP.

The little girl suffers from what doctors diagnosed as aquagenic urticaria or a reaction to water that causes her to break out in hives that are described as “blistery rashes” on a GoFundMe set up for her by her mother.

What is aquagenic urticaria?

Urticaria is the medical term for hives, a skin rash reaction that occurs due to exposure to an irritant. They present as raised red parts of the skin that can sometimes be itchy, according to the National Institutes of Health. Aquagenic urticaria though is a condition that is incredibly rare where the hives are caused by an exposure to water of any temperature. The welts generally disappear after about 30 minutes to an hour and are usually fairly small with defined edges, according to the NIH. The reaction usually presents itself sometime around the time of puberty.

Angerman’s case is quite severe and appeared at a far younger age than it does in most patients. The rash even appears when the toddler cries or sweats and happens rapidly after her skin is exposed to water. Doctors recommended that she take an antihistamine regularly and only drink and bathe in purified water. Additionally physicians recommended that she live in a home with purified water and air, two things her current home does not have.

The regimen of antihistamines and purified water has helped to calm the severity of the reactions but not stop them all together, her parents told KMSP.

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