A parasitical dirt ball that can jump from its common host species into mammalian is becoming more widespread in stinker in the southerly USA , sparking concerns about the risk of exposure to humans .

Therat lungworm , Angiostrongylus cantonensis , typically moves between escargot and rodents to complete its living cycle . Rats exhaust snails infect with worm larvae , which then migrate into the rat nervous organisation to mature into grownup worms . From there , they writhe their way into the puke ’ lung , laying eggs that dream up into unexampled larva . The larva then find their way into the digestive system where they are expelled in feces , and once that is take in by a escargot the whole cycle set forth again .

Humans and other mammals do n’t generally amount into the picture – unless , that is , they accidentally eat a snail , or some veggies that have been contaminated . In these cases , the leech can cause a potentially serious brain infection call eosinophilic meningitis .

When we speak about meningitis , we ’re usually referring to the much more commonbacterialor viral forms of the disease , but less commonfungaland parasitical variant also survive . A. cantonensiseosinophilic meningitis causessymptomsincluding a severe headache , stiff neck , nausea , sensitivity to light , and sometimes a low - grade feverishness .

There is no specific treatment for parasitic meningitis . While most cases willget good on their own , there is a danger , albeit rare , ofcomplicationsand evendeath , so wellness assurance are swell to keep an middle on the spread of these parasites .

A late report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) yield the results of a study of 33 wild brown rats that were recover dead in Atlanta , Georgia between 2019 and 2022 . analytic thinking point that seven of the creature had nematode parasite within their heart , lung , and brain tissues . Of these , four were sustain to be infected withA. cantonensis .

The remaining three produced inconclusive results due to the wretched quality of the samples , but the account does remark that the lesions observe in the stinkpot would be consistent withA. cantonensis .

These may sound like very low numbers , but by rights , this parasite should be nowhere near the US at all . It ’s an invasive species , most usually hear in Asia , which is thought to have been introduced to the US states of Hawaii , Texas , Louisiana , Alabama , andFloridavia overseas trade .

Now that the CDC has confirmed the presence of the sponge in Georgia , we can add another land to that list .

The report explains that six surmise cases of humanA. cantonensisinfection were find between 2011 and 2017 in Tennessee , Texas , and Alabama . There have also been legion report of infections in nonhuman primates and other mammals across various states .

In club for the parasite to thrive , it necessitate not only a rodent host but a snail one as well . unluckily , there are a routine ofgastropod speciesin the US that are call up to be susceptible to infection withA. cantonensis .

Human infections are still a rarefied event , but the report does stress that clinicians should keep the possible action in judgment if they ’re presented with a case of suspected eosinophilic meningitis .

In terminus of prevention , we can take our pool stick from those living in areas where the parasite is much more widespread , such as thoroughly wash produce and avoiding the ingestion of undercooked or raw snails .

The study is published inEmerging Infectious Diseases .