Snails cause meningitis in Beijing, destroy crops
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Snails cause meningitis in Beijing, destroy crops*
21 Aug 2006 07:36:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Eating raw or half-raw snails has led to
almost 40 people in Beijing coming down with meningitis, state media
said on Monday, and the same species is being blamed for destroying a
huge swath of rice crops.
Around half of the victims had eaten a dish made with the Amazonian
snails at a chain of Sichuan restaurants, the China Daily said.
"The large, black snails are a hot-selling aquatic product in big
Chinese cities like Beijing," Xinhua news agency said, adding that those
falling sick had been infected by parasitic eel worms.
But the problem does not end there.
"Amazonian snails ... are now being blamed for killing crops on more
than 160,000 hectares" (617 sq miles) in the southwestern autonomous
region of Guangxi Zhuang, Xinhua said.
"Farmers near seven cities in Guangxi have reported an invasion of
Amazonian snails in their paddy fields. Agricultural experts said rainy
weather, brought by this summer's typhoons, created ideal conditions for
the snails."
China has been struggling to control a rise in the number of
food-related health incidents.
In 2004, a major health scandal erupted when China revealed that at
least 13 babies had died from malnutrition in the country's impoverished
eastern province of Anhui after being fed fake baby milk.
And several cases of bird flu in humans, which has infected 21 people,
have been traced back to people eating sick birds.