Yellow snail: Terrors in the fields and dining tables

In recent days, Chinese public opinion has been shaken by the news that 87 people in Beijing's capital have suffered from meningitis, after they ate the snail or live snail, the dish was sold at two Sichuan restaurants named ' Shu Shu expresses '.

Known under the beautiful name of the " snail of Phuc Tho ", it is actually a golden snail - an animal that once ravaged a series of vegetable gardens and rice fields in southern China.

The Chinese Ministry of Health has warned people not to eat raw or re-eaten snails, and at the same time prohibit restaurants that sell non-cooked snails.

A patient with flukes in the brain (white spot on tomography) (Photo: TTO)

A scientist from the Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, of the Chinese Army Pharmaceutical Research Institute, said that each snail originating from this swamp Amazone contains 3000 to 6000 parasites called ' Guangzhou fluke ', can harm the nervous system of the person, leading to symptoms of headaches, facial paralysis, meningitis and fever.

Each patient after being treated for 3 weeks can go home, but the flukes still remain in the body so the risk of recurrence . is very high.

Through the investigation, before harming the Beijing diners, this snail has destroyed about 10 thousand hectares of fields in Guangdong, Guangxi . Japanese people love to eat canned snails, so snails have been imported. first entered Southeast Asia in the 1970s, then entered Taiwan.

By the 1980s it was imported into Guangdong as a high protein food. At first it was raised in a separate area in Guangzhou, but then quickly developed into neighboring provinces. The Cantonese also like this 'specialty' dish, but it is criticized by hard and light meat.

The ' Phuc tho ' snail fever gradually cooled down, the snail ponds were narrowed, people sold them off with cheap prices, even starved, not looking at them. Because the hot and humid climatic conditions in the south are very suitable, this snail species grows very quickly, they crawl outside the breeding, feeding and spreading areas along the water flow.

It is calculated that if you throw a snail in the river, after a year it will multiply into thousands of children. Currently, ' Phuc Tho ' snail has become an epidemic in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Fujian, and Zhejiang. To kill snails, people must use pesticides with high concentrations.

The Chinese Ministry of Health has issued a statement stating that eating raw freshwater aquatic products is a dangerous act, which could pose a health risk, managers, food traders and consumers alike. Precautions should be taken, determined not to sell, not to eat fresh or raw freshwater seafood dishes.