Month: February 2019

Big Island Now: The Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) reports two more cases of rat lungworm disease (angiostrongyliasis) contracted on Hawai‘i Island.Health officials recently learned about an adult visitor to the state who had been vacationing in North Hawai‘i last year. The visitor became ill in late December 2018 and was not diagnosed until they were hospitalized for their symptoms when they returned to the mainland. Confirmatory testing was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The individual was hospitalized for a short time and has since recovered. The adult visitor was the seventh person from Hawai‘i Island who tested positive for angiostrongyliasis in 2018, bringing the statewide total to nine confirmed cases last year.Another case of rat lungworm disease was identified in an adult resident from…