PAHOA, Hawaii – At Sunday’s Rat Lungworm Awareness Forum held at the Pahoa Community Center, Dr. Susan Jarvi with the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy talked about the latest research being done to gain a better understanding of rat lungworm disease (RLW) – or angiostrongylus cantonensis.

Jarvi’s top objectives are:

• Conduct studies to find out where the RLW ‘hot spots’ are, and develop a test to estimate the number of larvae in slugs and snails.
• Determine how effective various solutions are at killing RLW larvae isolated from slugs. Many people are using hydrogen peroxide or vinegar to wash vegetables – do they work?
• Evaluate the possibility of RLW transmission in water. (the previous video goes into greater detail about this research, which began testing but needs to be completed)
• Pilot study: Determine if RLW DNA can be detected in rat blood, and if it can be detected in humans?
• Determine the efficacy of a vaccine against A. costaricensis to A. contonensis. We might be able to break the transmission cycle by vaccinating rats.
• Conduct a pilot study to determine the prevalence of human rat lungworm infection in East Hawaii.

Dr. Susan Jarvi presents her research on RLW

ARCHIVE: Rat Lungworm Disease stories on BIVN

LINK: Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy Rat Lungworm Page