HONOLULU — The Hawaii Department of Health has been conducting detailed investigations of two additional cases of angiostrongyliasis, or rat lungworm disease, contracted in the state.
HONOLULU — The Hawaii Department of Health has been conducting detailed investigations of two additional cases of angiostrongyliasis, or rat lungworm disease, contracted in the state.
The two cases are unrelated and were confirmed by laboratory tests conducted by the DOH State Laboratories Division in March. This brings the statewide total of confirmed cases to three in 2018.
An adult Maui resident and a visiting adolescent from New York are the latest victims. Both were briefly hospitalized.
“These recent cases are a reminder that the risk of rat lungworm disease exists statewide and we all need to take precautions to prevent infection,” said Dr. Sarah Park, DOH’s state epidemiologist.
Thanks in part to an appropriation from the state Legislature, DOH has been able to ramp up its education and outreach efforts.
