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  • 2017-03-27 (xsd:date)
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  • Should People Call the Police if They See a New Guinea Flatworm? (en)
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  • On 21 March 2017, a viral post from a web site called Goodfullness.com (titled If You See One of These Slugs Inside Your House, Dial 911 Immediately!), argued that the invasion of the New Guinea Flatworm in Florida poses a acute risk to human health that necessitates calling 911. While this post (and many others like it) frames their invasion as a new event, it is not. This non-native species, also called Platydemus manokwari, was first spotted in August 2012 and confirmed by a team of researchers in 2015 in a scientific report that made significant news at the time: While viral posts implied that the discovery of a New Guinea Flatworm in one's home necessitates a police response, authorities suggest otherwise. We reached out to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to ask if their department recommended reporting sightings of the New Guinea Flatworm to 911. They told us, via e-mail, that it is not necessary: Indeed, the primary danger of the New Guinea Flatworm is to the ecosystem rather than to human health. The pest has an infamous track record of damaging the ecosystems to which they have been introduced, as discussed in a 2014 study on their occurrence in France: From a human health standpoint, the Goodfullness.com post makes a number of assertions about the risks P. manokwari presents to humans and other, larger creatures: According to Florida International University professor of biology Timothy Collins, who actively studies their occurrence in Florida, the New Guinea Flatworm does not prey on rats, and typically eats snails, earthworms, [and] slow-moving arthropods. The New Guinea Flatworm is, however, a possible carrier of a parasite that passes through the feces of rats — the rat lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis). This parasite generally causes mild symptoms that generally resolve without treatment, but is capable of a more serious infection called eosinophilic meningitis, according to the CDC: The rat lungworm, as it turns out, utilizes a complex life cycle which requires three hosts, one of which can be a flatworm or snail, as described in a 2012 review of the parasite: If one’s food were to accidentally come in contact with the mucus of an infected flatworm, or if one were to directly consume the animal itself, you could potentially contract a rat lungworm infection, Collins told us via email: He tempered this analysis, however, with the caveat that there have yet to be any confirmed cases of the New Guinea Flatworm carrying the rat ringworm in Florida, and provided us with this simple advice: This advice is in line with the CDC’s position as well: This invasive creature is a big problem for local ecosystems, and it is an issue that Collins and other scientists are actively researching. However, while there are indirect potential risks to humans from the New Guinea Flatworm in Florida, these risks in no way necessitate calling 911. (en)
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