01-16-2009, 03:55 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Shekelpal
A friend of ours recently came down with rat lung worm, or angiostrongylus cantonensis, causing eosinophilic meningitis. Many people I know have had it, including myself and my husband, but our friend#699;s case was particularly bad, now in the hospital on morphine and steroids. Not a great way to spend the holidays.
This very wet, cool weather has caused an outbreak of the semi-slugs (Parmarion martensi) that carry a nematode in their bodies and slime trail that causes this illness. These things climb all over your walls, roof, catchment, vegetable garden and fruit trees. Please be careful and inspect and wash your food well (with boiled or well filtered water), or additionally, do not eat it fresh from the garden but let it sit inside or in the fridge for a day. The nematode cannot live outside of the slug for very long. Cooking kills the parasite. Note, that the semi-slug is not the only thing to carry this, snails, and I believe some worms can as well - it is just that semi-slug is more plentiful and so is the amount of slime and it is hard to accidently eat an African Snail.
We spray copper sulfate around the footings of the house and the table where I grow vegetables that we eat raw. So far that has worked fairly well, they hit that and turn bronze and die.
The symptoms of this illness vary, but seem to always be accompanied by extreme headache, neck pain and stiffness, and do seem to come on fairly rapidly. I can only describe it as an alien taking over your body. Depending on the number of nematodes that have gone into your bloodstream and found their way up your spinal column and brain to die, as you are not their natural host, there may be other symptoms as mild as an extremely painful arm and shoulder, or as extreme as your whole body being in total agony and encephalitis. You may also have abdominal symptoms and skin that is painful to the touch. The symptoms may last a year or more to some degree and may cause permanent damage.
Though the knowledge about the semi-slug and the nematode#699;s connection with meningitis has been around for at least 5 years, the Hilo Hospital recently seemed to not know much about it. When I had it a few years ago, I contacted the State Dept. of Health to try to make sure that they put out a warning to people and Drs. as it is a reportable Public Health issue. I copied the letter to Gov. Lingle. I never heard anything from her office, but the health dept. called me and in the conversation we had the man said that "this is the price of living in paradise". I asked him if he did not mean to say parasites? He did not laugh.
Anyway, with awareness and caution this is a largely preventable illness. Hope everyone else is having a happy holiday.