{"id":59922,"date":"2017-05-08T10:43:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T20:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=59922"},"modified":"2020-08-07T14:44:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-08T00:44:08","slug":"uh-fights-rat-lungworm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/05\/08\/uh-fights-rat-lungworm\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> plays significant role in the battle against rat lungworm"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<figure id=\"attachment_59944\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59944\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-rat-lungworm.jpg\" alt=\"Rat and lungworms\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" class=\"size-full wp-image-59944\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-rat-lungworm.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-rat-lungworm-260x146.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-59944\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lungworm image, Qvarnstrom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"clear:both;\">As of late April 2017, the <a href=\"http:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Department of Health<\/a> had confirmed 13 cases of rat lungworm disease since the start of the year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the parasitic worm (<em>Angiostrgonylus cantonensis<\/em>) can invade the central nervous system and cause a rare form of meningitis.<\/p>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is addressing rat lungworm in diverse ways across the island state, including assessing its distribution statewide, determining which species of snails and slugs can carry it, doing experiments to determine the best ways to wash produce to keep it safe and undertaking extensive educational and outreach efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Six <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> faculty members serve on the <a href=\"http:\/\/governor.hawaii.gov\/newsroom\/latest-news\/doh-news-release-joint-task-force-established-to-combat-rat-lungworm-disease-in-hawaii\/\">Governor&#8217;s Task Force on Rat Lungworm Disease<\/a>, established in 2016, and reflect a wide range of expertise.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/cowielab\/\">Robert Cowie<\/a><\/strong>, malacology, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbrc.hawaii.edu\/\">Pacific Biosciences Research Center<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/tropicalmedicine\/?page_id=485\">William L. Gosnell<\/a><\/strong>, immunology, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa <a href=\"http:\/\/jabsom.hawaii.edu\/\">John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Susan Jarvi<\/strong>, pharmaceutical science, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo, <a href=\"http:\/\/pharmacy.uhh.hawaii.edu\/\">Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/tropicalmedicine\/?page_id=655\">Kenton Kramer<\/a><\/strong>, parasitology, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaiiresidency.org\/pediatric-residency\/marian-melish-md\">Marian Melish<\/a><\/strong>, pediatrics, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.hawaii.edu\/~dewolfe\/Dr.%20Miller's%20CV.html\">F. DeWolfe Miller, <abbr title=\"Roman numeral four\">IV<\/abbr><\/a><\/strong>, epidemiology, <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As the name implies, the rat lungworm is a parasite only of rats and a few other rodents. Infected rats pass the larvae of the parasite in their feces, which are then eaten by snails and slugs. Humans are accidental hosts who do not transmit infection to others, but can become infected by eating raw infected snails or slugs (or parts of them), which are often accidentally left on produce that has not been sufficiently washed.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Rat lungworm is a horrible disease and we need to work collaboratively and collegially with all to do the best for the people of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>,&rdquo; said <abbr>UH<\/abbr> President <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/leadership\/david-lassner\/\"><strong>David Lassner<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Resources for education and prevention<\/h2>\n<p>The State Department of Health and <abbr>UH<\/abbr> have a range of resources on rat lungworm available online. Some of these include: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/docd\/disease_listing\/rat-lungworm-angiostrongyliasis\/\"><em>Angiostrongyliasis (Rat Lungworm Disease)<\/em><\/a>, State of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, Department of Health <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/cowielab\/Angio%20website%20home.htm\">Rat Lungworm Disease&#8212;A Scientific Workshop<\/a>, Honolulu, <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, 16&#8211;18 August 2011, Robert Cowie and <strong>Jim Hollyer<\/strong> organizers.\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wwwnc.cdc.gov\/eid\/article\/18\/12\/12-0499_article\">A report on the workshop<\/a> was published in the journal <em>Emerging Infectious Diseases<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/hjmph.org\/72.06.suppl2.htm\">Published articles arising from the workshop<\/a> and containing a lot of key information about the disease are in the <em><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Journal of Medicine and Public Health<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/oc\/freepubs\/pdf\/FST-35.pdf\"><em>Avoid Contracting Angiostroyngyliasis (Rat Lungworm Infection):  Wash Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Before Eating!<\/em><\/a> (<small><abbr>PDF<\/abbr><\/small>), <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/site\/\">College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources<\/a> (CTAHR) <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/oc\/freepubs\/pdf\/FST-39.pdf\"><em>Best On-Farm Food Safety Practices: Reducing Risks Associated with Rat Lungworm Infection and Human Eosincophilic Meningitis<\/em><\/a> (<small><abbr>PDF<\/abbr><\/small>), <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/oc\/freepubs\/pdf\/FST-45.pdf\"><em>Student and Food Safety: Best Practices for Â鶹´«Ã½ School Gardens<\/em><\/a> (<small><abbr>PDF<\/abbr><\/small>), <abbr\">Â鶹´«Ã½M&#257;noa <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;Prevention of rat lungworm disease is a statewide priority and the Department of Health is working with partners from federal, state and county agencies as we continue our investigation of reported cases,&rdquo; said Health Director Virginia Pressler. &ldquo;The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has been a valuable partner in our efforts to learn more about this rare and serious disease.&rdquo;<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<p><em>&#8212;By Kelli Trifonovitch<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Â鶹´«Ã½is assessing disease distribution, identifying carriers, experimenting with best practices for produce and reaching out to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":59944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[212,52,31,149,14,9],"class_list":["post-59922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-college-of-pharmacy","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-pacific-biosciences-research-center","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-rat-lungworm.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59922"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124680,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59922\/revisions\/124680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}