Valencia, (EFE).- Alberto Martínez-Ortí, research professor at the Valencian Museum of Natural History in Alginet, has warned of the dangers of collecting and consuming land snails, in the orchards around Valencia, by the presence of rats parasitized by the rat lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, which causes eosinophilic meningitis.
Snails are the intermediary vector of this endoparasite, warned the professor, who is also a member of the Health Parasitology Unit of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Valencia and a specialist in vectors of parasitic diseases.
May cause eosinophilic meningitis
This nematode can be transmitted by snails to humans and cause eosinophilic meningitis, which is capable of causing inflammation of the brain membrane and generating symptoms such as seizures and very serious brain injuries, paralysis and even death.
Recently in other countries such as Ecuador, it has been detected in people who became ill after consuming giant African snail ceviche, which was introduced a few years ago in that country.
Tradition of collecting snails
In the orchards around Valencia, and in towns close to its metropolitan area, it is common for residents to collect edible snails for their own consumption.
Although for now these worms have only been found in rats, reservoirs of the parasite, it is of “vital importance” to identify if there are parasitized snails -intermediate vectors- since they can infect both people and other animals.
The species of snails that are commonly consumed in the Valencian garden area are the duck snail, the hazelnut snail, the Moorish snail, the Christian snail or the xoneta, “susceptible to being parasitized by the worm, vectoring it and causing meningitis in people ”, explains the teacher.
“It is important that the authorities become aware of the serious risk posed by the presence of this parasitic rat and snail worm in our orchards, and that the appropriate measures be taken,” he added.
The importance of cooking
Alberto Martínez-Ortí has assured that consequently, and due to the possible presence of this worm in these snails, “it is our duty to make the population aware of the precaution, both in the collection (due to the slime and feces) and in its cooked before eating.
A good preventive practice would be to cook them at high temperatures, which will prevent the survival of the parasite before reaching our digestive system. Another method is freezing at temperatures below -20 °C for several days, which kills the life of the larvae of these worms, as well as Anisakis, another nematode that parasitizes fish.
They demand a parasitological study
Therefore, in his opinion, “it is necessary to carry out a parasitological study of the snails in the orchard to indicate if they are parasitized and in what geographical area, which allows us to take more drastic measures regarding their collection and consumption.”
This type of study is already being carried out in Mallorca by the Universitat de les Illes Balears and our research team, where this parasite appeared before Valencia. Companies dedicated to the breeding of these snails in captivity also have to pay special attention to a possible affectation by the rat lungworm.
In relation to this topic, on February 24, at 7:00 p.m., a lecture by Dr. Martínez-Ortí entitled “Snails. Attention, danger!”, in the assembly hall of the Museu Valencià d’Història Natural in Alginet and in which this parasitic health problem and other similar ones caused by freshwater snails in Spain will be discussed.
The professor’s team already detected the vector of urogenital Schistosomiasis in Almería and several years later autochthonous cases of this disease have been detected in the area. It is the freshwater snail Bulinus truncatus, based on which we have presented the risk map of the disease in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Therefore, he concluded, “autochthonous cases of eosinophilic meningitis could occur in Valencia if the necessary preventive health measures are not taken, for which it is extremely important to continue investigating its vectors.” EFE
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