best bait and trap for mongoose.

[AlohaSteven]

The Snails are Giant African Land Snails... Do carry Lepto

Interesting.

If those snails in Puna are giant African snails (Achatina, probably Achatina fulica) then they are indeed the same critters I've seen elsewhere on the planet.

Actually, though, I was thinking about Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the "rat lungworm" when I made that comment about the snails in Puna looking like snails I've seen in Southeast Asia which carry a problem helminth. In Southeast Asia the problem helminth the snails can harbor and transmit to humans is the rat lungworm, a strongylid nematode. A quick web search suggests the rat lungworm has been present in Hawaii since at least the early 1960's (probably much earlier, I'd guess).
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/...ngylus.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/rat-lungworm
http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/cond/C688977.html
http://www.jstor.org/pss/3275413
It appears well-established this problem helminth is present in Hawaii and passed to humans by the snails.

By contrast, I skimmed through about fifteen or twenty different online reports on leptospirosis and the only mentions I found connecting leptospirosis with snails sounded tenuous or needing further substantiation (based on circumstantial association or casual assertion). Maybe I just looked in the wrong places, used the wrong keywords in searching, or somesuch but everything I read lined up with the CDC's description. The CDC says leptospirosis Occurs through direct or indirect transmission from a mammalian host. Indirect transmission via contact with Leptospira contaminated water or soil, is thought to be responsible for most cases.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseasein...osis_t.htm
Indirect transmission as used here appears to mean that a mouse or rat urinates or defecates and the infected material is then ingested by the mammal (...still think the "three second rule" is a good idea with those accidentally dropped sweets, kids?)

Don't get me wrong, I am not disputing that leptospirosis is definitely present and a problem on the Big Island, but I am not seeing any smoking gun linking it back to the snails. Rat lungworms and the snails, yes, definititely, but leptospirosis and the snails, no. At least, not yet. If anyone finds a definite, evidence-based, researched report of the snails being demonstrated as an intermediary in transmission or as a host of Leptospira then please do post the link(s) as this would be useful to see.

One report I skimmed through (alas, I did not make note of that article's URL while at the site) did say mongoose can be infected by or harbor Leptospira; this would be consistent with the CDC version.

Escargo, anyone? Bon Appétit!





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"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

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