HILO — The Hawaii Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have confirmed three unrelated cases of angiostrongyliasis, or rat lungworm disease, in visitors to Hawaii Island. All three individuals are adult residents of the U.S. mainland and were traveling in Hawaii when they were infected with the parasite causing rat lungworm disease.
One of the individuals visited East Hawaii in December 2018 and became infected by purposely eating a slug on a dare. The individual became ill in late December and was not hospitalized for their symptoms. The adult visitor was the eighth person infected on Hawaii Island who tested positive for angiostrongyliasis in 2018, bringing the statewide total to 10 confirmed cases last year.
The other individuals confirmed by the CDC laboratory were traveling on the west side of Hawaii Island during their visits. One of these individuals became ill in early January 2019 and was not hospitalized for their symptoms. After an investigation, it is not known how the individual was infected, however, they do remember eating many homemade salads while on vacation. The other individual became ill in late February 2019 and was hospitalized for a short time. The investigation was not able to identify an exact source of infection, but the individual likely became infected while “grazing,” or eating unwashed raw fruits, vegetables and other plants straight from the land.
With the additional cases confirmed by CDC, this brings the statewide total to five confirmed cases of angiostrongyliasis in 2019, all of which were contracted on Hawai’i Island.