The official name, angiostrongyliasis, is daunting enough, made even more frightening by the nickname “rat lungworm” disease.
It is certainly not new, turning up in health briefs from time to time. But the most recent cluster of reports has drawn particular attention because tourists have been afflicted. And whenever that happens, news tends to spread far, and fast.
They also have dealt a blow to local farmers, who again must counter consumer fear about buying their produce. As a result, the industry is working to confront the problem at the point of origin, by following best-practices for crop processing and distribution.
Ultimately, of course, the most effective protection against infection lies with the consumers themselves, who are in the best position to inspect their fresh foods carefully before putting them on the table for families to eat.
Rat lungworm disease comes from a parasite in the lungs of rats. The rodents can transmit the parasite themselves, or it spreads when snails and slugs consume the rat feces and are hidden in produce, green leafy vegetables providing the most concealment.
Hawaii’s Department of Health confirmed two new cases on Wednesday, bringing this year’s total to 11 statewide. Besides the confirmed illnesses, officials cited four related cases considered “highly probable.”
This is enough of a drumbeat of bad news to raise awareness, though not always in a good way. The most reasoned response is not panic and avoidance — fresh produce offers too many nutritional and taste advantages to swear off eating it altogether.
It is vigilance in handling the food, both at the farm and in the home. Fortunately, there are tools for doing so.
In 2011, the federal Food Safety Management Act was signed into law, mandating numerous improvements in farm practices that already have started taking effect. Smaller businesses, such as most of the farms in Hawaii, were given a later deadline for making the changes. Compliance is required this September, a year later for the smallest farms.
The changes include requirements for bathrooms and handwashing for farmworkers, and regulations barring the storage of food containers on the ground, and the reuse of boxes for fresh produce.
This, in addition to careful quality control by the processing workers, should further reduce what is already a small risk.
Vector control — especially against rats, in this instance — is of crucial importance. This becomes challenging for organic farmers, who can’t use the chemical pesticides relied upon in conventional agriculture, but it’s still doable.
Farms of all kinds can and should take advantage of state Department of Agriculture certification programs that convey a surety for their product to distributors — some of them already are doing business only with farms that are best-practices certified. That’s good self-policing by the industry.
Meanwhile, the education effort is in full swing. The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii is now doing outreach to farm managers in a series of classes statewide.
And on Wednesday, officials for the state Department of Health were doing the same thing for the general public.
Their advice is common sense, but bears repeating. Wash all produce with care, and store food in covered containers. Tap water works well, as long as the cleansing is thorough. Home gardens and yards should be controlled for slugs, snails and rats as well.
Seek medical attention for headache, fever, stiff neck and tingling or painful feelings in skin or extremities. The rat lungworm causes a form of meningitis.
This is a serious illness, which means good public policy is to scare people straight. Scaring them straight to the kitchen sink is government’s duty.
