15 big snails able to inflicting uncommon types of meningitis in people seized at Houston airport
1 / 4-pound of beef, recent leaves and 15 reside big land snails — it is not a recipe, however the confiscated contents of an airline passenger’s baggage earlier this month. U.S. Customs and Border Safety introduced the invention Tuesday, saying that the snails are able to inflicting uncommon types of meningitis in people.
CBP mentioned in a press release that the snails had been recovered on the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. The passenger who introduced the large land snails, also referred to as banana rasp snails, was touring from Nigeria. She initially solely declared that she had introduced dried beef along with her, however later added the snails to her declaration, CBP mentioned.
Agriculture specialists who had been inspecting the passenger’s baggage in Houston then discovered three zip-locked plastic baggage that had the reside snails inside, together with recent leaves and about 0.25 kilos of beef, CBP mentioned.
“Our agriculture specialists stay vigilant in defending the U.S. from overseas animal and plant illness that would threaten U.S. crop manufacturing and livestock trade or be transmitted to people,” Houston CBP port director Shawn Polley mentioned in a press release.
The USDA has taken management of the snails, and mentioned on its web site that it’s “some of the damaging snails on the earth.” It will probably develop to be nearly 8 inches in size and 5 inches in diameter, concerning the measurement of an grownup’s fist, the USDA mentioned.
Large land snails pose a “probably critical menace” to people and the setting, CBP mentioned. Together with negatively affecting agriculture and ecosystems, the West Africa natives are identified to hold a parasite referred to as the rat lungworm that may trigger uncommon types of meningitis in people.
Greater than 2,800 instances of the illness have been reported from 30 nations, in accordance with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. The parasite would not survive for lengthy inside the human physique, the CDC mentioned, and critical problems, equivalent to neurologic dysfunction or loss of life, not often happen.
