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Cleaning up some files and dumping all really old stuff into a Cloud for later review and I see this fly by on my status.. as the Dog Poet would say; Mr. Invisible gave me a kick to post for those that can hear..

Eosinophilic Meningitis / Rat lung worm

Eosinophilic meningitis is an infection of the brain occurring in association with an increase in the number of eosinophils. The organism most commonly causing eosinophilic meningitis is a rat lung worm called angiostrongylus cantonensis. Other worm infections that can cause a similar picture include paragonimiasis, gnathostomiasis and schistosomiasis.

Angiostrongylus is a worm of around 20 mm in length, which lives in the pulmonary artery in the rat, hence its name rat lung worm. Adult worms lay eggs in the arteries which hatch into first stage larvae. These larvae penetrate the artery wall to enter the lungs and migrate up the windpipe and into the gut and are expelled in the feces of the rodent. Once outside the body, they survive in damp conditions and penetrate the skin of snails and slugs. Snails and slugs can also become infected by eating rodent feces containing the larvae. There follows a further development stage within the snails and slugs. Infection is spread back to the rat when rats eat snails and slugs, and larvae in the tissues of these mollusks penetrate through the gut wall into the circulation and reach the rat brain. In the rat brain the larvae develop further, and when mature migrate through the rat body to the pulmonary artery where they mature to an adult worm.

In this complicated life cycle, humans become infected by accident when they eat an infected snail, or food that has been contaminated by slugs or snails, particularly SALADS. In the intestines the larvae penetrate the lining and migrate to the brain, spinal cord and eye. There they attempt to develop into final stage larvae but are generally unable to do this because development can only occur in rats. The larvae gather on the surface of the brain and spinal cord, causing intense inflammation. Very occasionally a larva will reach maturity and become an adult worm in the lung.

more: http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/cond/C688977.html Tweet