Giant African snail forced part of Broward County, Florida to be placed under quarantine following a 3rd outbreak of the parasite causing mollusk which pose serious health risks for humans. A race against time.
Florida officials have placed part of a Florida city under quarantine Tuesday as they race to eradicate the invasive, parasite-carrying invasive giant African land snail known to cause serious health issues for humans.
A 3.5-mile section of Miramar in Broward County — located just 11 miles west of Hollywood — will be covered in a metaldehyde-based molluscicide to exterminate any giant African snails after at least one was found in the area earlier this month.
Residents will be able to move out of the treatment area freely but are prevented from moving any plant-based supplies that could harbor the mammoth mollusk’s eggs. To date it remained unclear how many of the Giant African land snails continued to pervade the Florida neighborhood.
Pose serious health consequences for humans
‘Under the quarantine, it is unlawful to move a giant African land snail or a regulated article, including, but not limited to, plants, plant parts, plants in soil, soil, yard waste, debris, compost or building materials, within, through or from the defined quarantine area without a compliance agreement,’ the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced.
The agency confirmed that a giant African snail — which can stretch up to 8 inches long — the size of a human hand, was spotted in the area in June, prompting an increased survey.
Giant African snails have been contended as ‘one of the most damaging snails in the world’ for their threat to both agriculture and human life.
The snails carry the rat lungworm parasite that can induce meningitis in humans.
3rd time lucky?
They are also capable of ravaging vegetation and are known to dine on more than 500 types of plants.
The mollusks can produce up to 1,200 eggs a year.
When the giant African land snail first appeared in southern Florida in the 1960s, it took 10 years and a million dollars to get rid of it, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
In October 2021, after another intensive, decade-long effort that included snail billboards, snail-sniffing dogs and even a snail detection hotline, Broward and Miami-Dade counties celebrated removing 160,000 snails and finally eradicating the pest at a whopping cost of $23 million to the city.
The Broward County quarantine is the third to be put into effect in Florida in the last year.
A swath of the west coast’s Lee County was quarantined following the massive mollusk’s detection in December, just six months after Pasco County suffered the same affliction.
