Posted on: Thursday, February 3, 2005

State health officials warn against eating raw snails

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

The state Department of Health is urging people in Hawai'i not to eat raw snails, to try to avoid accidentally eating slugs and to thoroughly wash vegetables that the mollusks may have touched.

The department's advisory comes as the agency is investigating recent cases of a rare form of meningitis that can be caused by a parasite found in snails and slugs.

Eating uncooked, garden-variety snails and slugs can cause a rare infection, which can lead to serious illness, state health officials said.

Vegetables should be washed before eating not only to protect against pesticide chemicals and bacteria from farm animals and implements, but also to guard against parasites such as angiostrongylus found in slugs and snails.

Dr. Chiyome Fukino, state health director, said parasites found in slugs and snails here have been around for decades.

Fukino said that by washing vegetables thoroughly, you can prevent "potential unwanted pests in your salad and protect your family."

Dr. Sarah Park, deputy chief of the Department of Health's Disease Outbreak Control Division, said "a couple of people on the Big Island and a couple of people on O'ahu" have come down with the type of meningitis caused by the parasite known to be present in snails and slugs here.

"You can't really call it a 'cluster' because the cases we know of involve patients on two different islands, and it certainly isn't an outbreak," Park said.

One of the people hit by the disease recalled having bitten into a piece of slug that apparently got chopped into pieces while a salad was being prepared, which is perhaps the most common way humans ingest slug bits, Park said.

In addition, toddlers between the ages of 1 and 4 experience the world around them by picking up all sorts of objects and putting them into their mouths, or touching different things and then putting their fingers in their mouths, Park said.

She said she did not know of cases where adults in Hawai'i deliberately ate raw slugs.

But consumption of raw snails is another matter, Park said. A variety of freshwater snail is used, uncooked, to make a type of poke. The snail that is used is also known to contain the parasite that can cause meningitis, Park said.

The extent of snail- or slug-caused meningitis in Hawai'i is unknown at this point because physicians are not required to report such cases. But the Department of Health will be asking doctors to keep track of such cases so health officials here can determine the extent of the problem.

Reach David Waite at 525-7412 or dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.