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Natural selection? Rat lungworm disease confirmed in three Hawaii visitors

klpca

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Young men seem to do a lot of risky things on a dare. That is why the phrases "hold my beer" and "what could go wrong" were invented. I am sure that his family is devastated. Most of the risky things don't evolve into getting meningitis and dying.

Here is the scary part of the article for me: The exact moment of infection is unknown for each of the three newly confirmed Hawaii cases, though one individual remembers "eating many homemade salads while on vacation," while another ate unwashed raw fruits, vegetables and other plants straight from the land, according to the Department of Health. And: In the Hawaiian islands, about 80% of land snails are carriers of the parasite, according to a 2014 research paper. I eat a lot of salads. I for sure wouldn't be eating any salads made from local veggies at this point, and there is very little chance that I would grab my lettuce from a farmers market. Why take the chance when you can just grab organic greens from CA at Costco. There are just too many nooks and crannies for those bugs to hide out.
 

pedro47

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Dumb, Dumb and Dumb. Wishing all three (3) a happy vacation on the Big Island.
 

4Sunsets

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EEEEEEEK!!!
 

lynne

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Young men seem to do a lot of risky things on a dare. That is why the phrases "hold my beer" and "what could go wrong" were invented. I am sure that his family is devastated. Most of the risky things don't evolve into getting meningitis and dying.

Here is the scary part of the article for me: The exact moment of infection is unknown for each of the three newly confirmed Hawaii cases, though one individual remembers "eating many homemade salads while on vacation," while another ate unwashed raw fruits, vegetables and other plants straight from the land, according to the Department of Health. And: In the Hawaiian islands, about 80% of land snails are carriers of the parasite, according to a 2014 research paper. I eat a lot of salads. I for sure wouldn't be eating any salads made from local veggies at this point, and there is very little chance that I would grab my lettuce from a farmers market. Why take the chance when you can just grab organic greens from CA at Costco. There are just too many nooks and crannies for those bugs to hide out.

We live on the Big Island and get our fruits and vegetables direct from farmer's markets. The key is to wash before consumption. It would be very sad if our entire local industry was put out of business due to some folks acting with extreme stupidity. I would prefer washing my local veggies and not eating items that have been travelling for a week or two from CA to HI. Costco greens, fruits and veggies come to us on barges which will take a week or so to get to port and who knows what may have crawled into them during the trip over. You should aways wash any raw item you are going to consume - rant over
 

klpca

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We live on the Big Island and get our fruits and vegetables direct from farmer's markets. The key is to wash before consumption. It would be very sad if our entire local industry was put out of business due to some folks acting with extreme stupidity. I would prefer washing my local veggies and not eating items that have been travelling for a week or two from CA to HI. Costco greens, fruits and veggies come to us on barges which will take a week or so to get to port and who knows what may have crawled into them during the trip over. You should aways wash any raw item you are going to consume - rant over
I do wash everything, over and over again. Food borne illness scares the bejeesus out of me. I just see it as my risk being higher and based upon how much I consume, I will make a different choice. I am actively dealing with other health issues. The last thing that I need is something else to deal with. My personal choice will not affect any industry on the Big Island, especially since I am not planning on a visit in the two years anyway because I have other trips planned. Sorry to have ruffled your feathers.
 

DavidnRobin

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  1. Welcome to paradise.
  2. Sharks are eating people in front of my hotel (WKORV) and rat lungworm parasites are on my fruit.
  3. Oh well, at least the managers are removing towels from the lounge chairs.

The shark bite (leg was bitten off) was in front of the Ashton Kaanapali.

Sure glad this wasn’t a shark - I was pretty far off shore.

e65a5fe98bd5ac78bdd712239cd5c51b.jpg



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LisaRex

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I for sure wouldn't be eating any salads made from local veggies at this point, and there is very little chance that I would grab my lettuce from a farmers market. Why take the chance when you can just grab organic greens from CA at Costco.

"First discovered in China in 1935, rat lungworm disease has spread to Asia, Australia, the Americas (including Brazil, the Caribbean islands and the United States) and the Pacific islands."

You should just wash your vegetables thoroughly no matter where you buy them from, especially if you eat them raw. Slugs don't care if a farmer is organic.
 

klpca

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"First discovered in China in 1935, rat lungworm disease has spread to Asia, Australia, the Americas (including Brazil, the Caribbean islands and the United States) and the Pacific islands."

You should just wash your vegetables thoroughly no matter where you buy them from, especially if you eat them raw. Slugs don't care if a farmer is organic.
I am a heavy food washer. My fear of food borne illness is probably a full blown phobia. We were on the Big island a few years ago with friends and I was preparing dinner, washing things (duh), using different cutting boards for meats and fresh vegetables, and washing my hands between touching different foods. My friend observed that she had never seen anyone wash their hands so many times while preparing a meal. I suppose that I wash them about 10 times on average during meal prep. Until that time I didn't know that I was weird. But so far, no food borne illness!

Btw, the organic greens from Costco are triple washed, so I always feel pretty good about my starting point. (No surprise, I still wash them - and I go through the leaves before serving mostly to trim some of the stems. Salads are labor intensive :D )
 

VacationForever

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I just started soaking and rinsing out several times the (organic) romaine lettuce before preparation. That was after a live black spider came scuttling out of a head of romaine lettuce while I was washing it.
 

klpca

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I just started soaking and rinsing out several times the (organic) romaine lettuce before preparation. That was after a live black spider came scuttling out of a head of romaine lettuce while I was washing it.
I find the most creepy crawlies in Romaine for some reason. <<shudder>>

Btw, my grandma taught me to soak/rinse all greens three times before serving, but that was to get the dirt off of the leaves.
 

VacationForever

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I find the most creepy crawlies in Romaine for some reason. <<shudder>>

Btw, my grandma taught me to soak/rinse all greens three times before serving, but that was to get the dirt off of the leaves.
I think the problem with lettuce in general is that it is not compact like cabbage, which makes it easier for creepy crawlies to get between the leaves.
 

Ken555

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After reading this thread I’m not eating salads for a month. Thanks, everyone!


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easyrider

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We wash veggies mostly because of pesticides. In Mexico we wash veggies in lemon juice. In Hawaii we go to Costco, lol.

We don't buy lettuce from Arizona because the ecoli can't be washed off. I think it is the same for the slug slime microbes so not a fan of Hawaiian produce.

Not a fan of Hawaiian fresh reef fish. Some contain ciguatera. Tuna and dorado is good but sea bass, jacks, snapper, grouper and all of the other reef fish are a chance of ciguatera.

https://www.popsci.com/rat-lungworm-hawaii-prevention#page-2

In fact, the CDC recommends avoiding raw produce entirely if you can help it. But, like, it's Hawaii? You want to eat that sweet, sweet produce. Just make sure to wash each leaf of leafy veggies individually, and take care even with produce that might seem safe, like pineapple; you could definitely pick up a bit of slug from the outside in the process of cutting up the sweet berry flesh inside, so rinse before you cut. You should even wash bananas before you peel them. Really!

And this should go without saying, but wash your hands, too—after spending time outside, and before cooking. You don't want to accidentally ingest tiny snail bits because you didn't clean up after a hike.

Bill
 
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