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Post by leathaface on Dec 6, 2006 16:03:30 GMT
i've heard snails can give us meningitis if we do not wash our hands properly after handling it... if a snail is infected with meningitis, does it die? or any snail can be a suspected carrier? Does anyone have any information on the disease?
secondly, are there any poisonous or venomous snails? i have 2 GALS and one unknown yellow one. They are all terrestrial. Can anyone produce a list of poisonous/venomous snails?
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Post by SnailTrail on Dec 9, 2006 10:13:53 GMT
As far as i'm aware land snails are harmless and I think the meningitus risk is only associated with eating them. You could have a google around and see what you find.
Sorry if i'm not much help but aquatic snails are more my thing.
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Paul
Teenage Snail
Posts: 118
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Post by Paul on Jan 26, 2007 2:03:53 GMT
I posted this over at petsnails so it's worded for Land snails but the same applies...
You're right that the problem is over-hyped but I thought it worth mentioning that it isn't as rare as you think.
One study showed that 85% of WC Archachatina marginata had the Angiostrongylus cantonensis (rat-lung) worm. The worms in the wrong host head for the brain and in humans can cause eosinophilic meningitis. It is treatable though. The rule is that you catch it from eating improperly cooked snail flesh, but I recall reading of one case of infection where snails weren't eaten. However, it would have likely occurred by indirect consumption, probably from contaminated hands or something. The point is, that in Africa and Asia where the problem is more serious, the number of cases is probably proportional to the population of snail eaters, which is much rarer outside of those continents. I was going to suggest poor health & safety in 3rd World countries (or whatever the currently politically correct term is) may also have something to do with these figures but judging from the fact you can go and get uncooked WC snails from African markets in Eruope, who knows if that has an effect?
I've been told it can't pass from snail to snail but since 15% of worms can be found in the mucus on the body, I can't see why contact couldn't transfer them. I've still yet to find out how long the infective stage lasts so we can figure out a reasonable quarantine time. For such a problematic parasite, you'd think it would be easy to find out.
You're right that CB snails shouldn't have them, but be aware that some contact with WC ones "could" infect them. This is still only really a risk for a period of time initially.
My advice to anyone is not to worry about it, simply be very hygienic around your snails, particularly when you receive new ones. Again, I've never heard of a case in Europe, but as snail-keeping is becoming more popular it's worth mentioning what we know so far, in the hope we never hear of one.
...so, the snails don't carry meningitis, they can be infected with a nematode that has three phases to its lifecycle, only one of which is infective to us and which is time limited, though I don't know for how long.
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