After eating raw centipedes at a market, two unfortunate people have contracted the rat lungworm parasite. (Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons/Yun Huang Yong)
By Jacob Williamson-Rea
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Two people got rat lungworm from eating raw centipedes. Could you be next?
Popular Science, July 31, 2018
Two people contracted rat lungworm by eating raw centipedes, but the parasite can be found in other foods, too: shrimp, frogs, crabs, even a piece of poorly washed lettuce with slime or larvae left over from a slug.
A toxic tide is killing Florida wildlife
The New York Times, July 30, 2018
Toxic algal blooms can suffocate biodiversity in coastal areas. Additionally, these same toxins can be sprayed into the air by waves, eventually causing respiratory problems in people living near the water.
The shocking reason that this man’s legs and hands were amputated: A dog’s saliva
The Washington Post, July 31, 2018
In an extremely rare case, a dog’s harmful saliva has found its way into a man’s bloodstream, causing sepsis.
Pollutionwatch: city sparrows’ decline linked to car exhausts
The Guardian, August 2, 2018
The decreasing quality of urban air affects more than just people. Once common in cities across the globe, house sparrow populations are decreasing.
Updated: Deadly Ebola surfaces in Africa’s center yet again
Science, August 2, 2018
Not long after the Democratic Republic of Congo announced an Ebola outbreak had been contained, the disease has now been found in the North Kivu province, with four new cases having been reported.
Rat lungworm disease is popping up in the mainland United States
Science News, August 3, 2018
After the parasitic roundworm’s Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae hatch in a rat’s lungs, they enter the world via the rat’s excrement. Eating raw centipedes has been the source for several recent cases in China, but others have been reported in the United States, mostly from raw vegetables.