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(Newser)
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Lungworm disease in rats has once again made its head ugly in Hawaii, specifically on Big Island, where five people became ill this year. No one really knows how they were infected with the parasitic worm, although a traveler will remember having "eaten many homemade salads" during a trip, while one another had eaten raw unwashed products directly from the ground, health officials said, to be thoroughly washed. The worm lives in rats and can be transmitted to humans through snails and slugs that eat infected rat poop and feast on products. Eating snails, shrimp or uncooked frogs is also a danger. This week, the state health department described three unrelated recent cases affecting travelers from the Americas, reports CNN.
Hawaii, where it is thought that 80% of terrestrial snails carry the parasite, on average about 10 cases per year, number reached in 2018. Three infants and one child were among the sick people last year, according to the same source. Washington Post. The parasite, which is not contagious, was restricted to adults in 2019. Nevertheless, "it is important to ensure that our visitors are aware of the precautions to be taken to prevent rat lungworm disease, which can have serious long-term effects, "said the state director of health. Although symptoms are often mild or nonexistent, the condition can also result in "neurological dysfunction or death," according to the CDC. (A man died eight years after eating a slug on a challenge.)
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