The parasite, called Angiostrongylus cantonensis, is commonly referred to as the “rat lungworm.” The parasite causes the illness angiostrongyliasis, which affects the brain and spinal cord and can often present as bacterial meningitis.
Infections are most commonly associated with consuming raw or undercooked slugs and snails, which feed on rat feces. The parasite can also be ingested by humans after eating undercooked freshwater prawns, crabs and frogs, but evidence for this mode of infection is not as clear, according to the CDC.
Researchers surveyed rats and snails in 18 counties across the state. Results indicated nearly 23 percent of rats, 16 percent of rat fecal samples and nearly 2 percent of land snails carried the parasite.
“The parasite is here in Florida and is something that needs to be taken seriously,” said lead author Heather Stockdale Walden, an assistant professor in the UF department of infectious diseases and pathology. “The reality is that it is probably in more counties than we found it in, and it is also probably more prevalent in the southeastern U.S. than we think. The ability for this historically subtropical nematode to thrive in a more temperate climate is alarming.”
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