MIRAMAR, Fla. — A portion of a South Florida county is under quarantine after an invasive giant snail that causes a health risk to humans has been detected.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said in a news release Tuesday that the detection of the giant African land snail was confirmed earlier this month in the Miramar area of Broward County.
According to the FDACS, these snails "pose a serious health risk to humans by carrying the parasite rat lungworm, known to cause meningitis in humans."
They're also known to cause extensive damage to Florida's agriculture and have twice been eradicated. The most recent detection was found last year in Pasco County.
The quarantine area starts at the intersection of Pembroke Road and University Drive, south on University Drive to Northwest 215th Street, east to Southwest 62nd Avenue and north to Pembroke Road.
Under the quarantine, it is illegal to move a giant African land snail or plants, soil, compost, or yard waste in or out of the quarantine area without state approval.
The state is using a metaldehyde-based molluscicide – or snail bait – as treatment.
According to the FDACS, metaldehyde disrupts the mucus production ability of invasive snails, reducing their digestion and mobility and making them susceptible to dehydration. Snails that have eaten metaldehyde begin to die within days of ingestion.
Property owners within the quarantine zone will be notified in person or by posted notice at least 24 hours in advance of the planned pesticide treatment.
The news came on the same day that Florida Atlantic University announced the detection of a non-indigenous sea snail found in the Lake Worth Lagoon in December.
Dr. Anton Oleinik, professor of geology at FAU, suspects that the Naria turdus, which is native to the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, arrived as a "stowaway" on a cargo ship at the Port of Palm Beach.
"The introduction of Naria turdus in the western Atlantic and Florida's coastal waterways raises a number of questions about this particular species," Oleinik said. "The key question is what exactly made this sea snail, among many other similar species, so successful in expanding its natural biogeographic range halfway around the world and securing a firm foothold in the western Atlantic and Florida's southeast coast? Its history of invasions and apparent adaptability makes us wonder where it will show up next."