Disease control experts remind: Beware of fushou snail poisoning

Right now, it’s the season of high incidence of food poisoning for snails and snails. Disease control experts reminded that everyone should be careful when eating snails to avoid poisoning caused by eating these two kinds of snails.

Liu Bituan, Deputy Chief Physician of the Transmission and Prevention Department of the Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, introduced that from May to September, the breeding season of Fushou snails and weed snails is at their peak. The egg mass of Fushou snail is pink and the egg shell is thinner, which is the most obvious identifying feature. Fushou snails like to lay their eggs on pond walls, stakes, stems and leaves of aquatic plants that are 15 cm to 40 cm above the water surface. The Fushou snail is much larger than the field snail, the shell is light olive green or yellowish brown, and the tail is shorter. The shell of the field snail is blue-brown and the tail is pointed. If people eat raw or undercooked snail meat, it is very easy to cause food-borne angiostrongyliasis, the larvae will invade the human brain, damage the central nervous system, and cause eosinophilic meningitis. It usually occurs within 2 to 5 days after eating snail meat. The clinical manifestations are headache, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, neck stiffness, limited activity, convulsions and other symptoms. In severe cases, paralysis or even death may occur.

The textured snail is commonly known as conch, sea snail, wheat snail or white snail. The shell surface often has 1 to 3 purple-brown or red-yellow snail bands, and the flesh is light yellow, mainly distributed in coastal areas such as Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong. The main cause of snail poisoning is that the tetrodotoxin contained in it will erode the central nervous system of the human body in a short time, causing poisoning symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, numbness of lips and fingers, and the incubation period is as short as 5 minutes and as long as 4 hours. There is currently no effective antidote for the poisoning caused by the consumption of snails.

Experts remind that when eating seafood and aquatic products, they must be cooked and steamed thoroughly. Seasonings such as mustard and soy sauce cannot kill parasites; Wash; wear gloves when handling fresh food to prevent puncture. Once a wound occurs, it is recommended to consult a hospital about the need for tetanus vaccine; if diarrhea or vomiting occurs after eating, you should go to a regular medical institution for diagnosis and treatment in time. (Reporter Lin Wenjing)