30% exposed to rat lungworm (?)

[MarkP]

Where did you gt tested?

[MarkP]

If one tests positive but it comes as a surprise then one is no better or worse off than someone who tests negative. No real lasting symptoms and no immunity gained. Fair to say?

A day or two after my last post I found a semi-slug in an overturned garbage can I had left out to dry. Seems like I am seeing mostly semi-slugs and frankly relatively few of the original 2" long brown slugs.

[Lee M-S]

We got tested as part of the study; they collected blood samples in June-August 2015.
They have kept the blood and plan to try new tests on it sometime.

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[mermaid53]

terracore, thanks for sharing this information. A good friend/neighbor, was hit hard by the rat lungworm parasite in the very recent past. He was taken to Oahu for further tests as they didn't know what it was at first. He lives on Kaloli Point.

He's still not fully recovered after many months. They don't buy produce at the local farmers market, don't grow their own produce so it was a mystery how he got exposed. They were thinking he may have picked it up through something he ate at a local restaurant.

Interesting that rain catchment water is on the radar for this study. His wife drinks the same catchment water...but as the preliminary study shows, you can be exposed and not know it. So the baseline may be the health of individual immune systems????

[Punatic007]

Mermaid,
If I remember correctly it's the stage of the parasite that determines how hard it hits you. Hopefully a good immune system makes a difference as well as diet. Some foods are naturally anti-parasitic like garlic pills to help control high blood pressure and cholesterol.

[MarkP]

The impression I got was that the severity of the event is proportional to the dose you get and while there may be some critters in the slime or floating in your catchment tank, actually eating a slug no matter how small gives you an order of magnitude more critters.

[terracore]

Maybe it's the name "Rat Lungworm" that makes it the parasitic boogeyman in my psyche. Maybe if it was named "Cotton Candy Yumworm" or something to that effect I'd be more cavalier about it. But when we moved into a house with catchment we immediately beefed up the filters and installed a UV water sterilization system.

I wanted to go give blood for the study (would love to see results) but never got around to it. Regret not making time.

ETA: added punctuation

[Lee M-S]

a friend told me that they're trying to get grant money to expand the study. If it works out, you may get another chance to participate. It did take over a year to get results, though.

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