- The authorities began collection and extermination operations in the affected areas.
Citizens of the state of Zulia have reported the presence of the African snail in several areas of the entity attributed, according to authorities, to the rainfall recorded in recent days. According to reports, they have been detected in the municipalities of Maracaibo and San Francisco.
The Mayor’s Office of the Municipality of San Francisco began carrying out collection operations and began an educational campaign so that the population can identify and exterminate them safely, because their direct contact can cause health problems.
Katherine Guanipa, coordinator of Prevention and Environmental Protection of the Municipal Public Institute of Environment and Urban Cleaning (Imasur), assured that the environmental sanitation crews are distributed throughout the sector, working to collect and exterminate the outbreaks found.
Extermination of snails
The mayor’s office detailed on its Instagram account that since the first complaint, more than 100 invasive African snails have been collected in the Francisco Ochoa parish.
“We call on communities to be alert to any appearance of this species; some measures must be taken: contact the Imasur team, which will carry out the extermination through a salting process, putting an end to the invasion,” he highlighted.
Guanipa maintained that the snails will disappear when the rains pass, which generate humidity in the area and make their spread feasible.
For its part, the Ministry for Ecosocialism (Minec) reports on its website the recommendations for the safe extermination of the mollusk, including:
-Identify them taking into account their characteristics (dark shell with turned beige lines and dark brown body)
-Collect them using gloves for handling
-Place them in a container and add salt
-Cover it for four hours and then bury them in a hole 50 centimeters deep.
The authorities highlight the importance of not touching them directly with your hand because they are harmful to health.
Dangers to biodiversity and health
African snails can devour vegetation and plantations without any problem, as they feed on at least 200 plants. Due to this, the proliferation of this species can generate an imbalance in the ecosystem where it is found and affect the biodiversity of the place.
This invasive species also has scavenger characteristics, because they feed on animal corpses such as small rodents. This particularity means that the snail can transmit bacteria and parasites that are harmful to human health.
“A person who handles the animal without gloves and who is not in the habit of washing their hands can contract these bacteria, but it is extremely rare to see cases of people affected by contact with African snails,” said Luis Echezuria, epidemiologist, in a statement. prior interview for The Diary.
Contact with this mollusk can cause diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis, meningitis, encephalitis and intestinal and skin infections, as well as general symptoms such as headaches, vomiting and diarrhea.
Previous appearances in the state of Zulia
In October 2022, authorities reported the presence of the African snail in various sectors of the Zulia state.
“We went directly to (the areas) where the complaints were (…) and evidently we verified the presence of the giant African snail,” said the Secretary of Health of the Zulia state, María Moreno, at that time.
Moreno warned the population not to step on the snails, because when they crush them they carry the slime on the soles of their shoes. “Usually the eggs are found in the slime and that is how the snail replicates,” he added.
In 2020, outbreaks were also detected in the municipalities of Baruta and El Hatillo, as well as in the states of Cojedes, Aragua and Trujillo.
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