"African" Hermaphroditic Mollusk (Snails) can spread diseases...

The anatomy of a common snail. Snails are extraordinarily diverse but all have coiled shells as adults to protect them and a strong foot coated in mucus for locomotion. All land snails are hermaphrodites and have two sets of tentacles which carry the eyes and olfactory organs.

Prague by African snail spreads throughout the Christmas
03/07/2009 - Tribuna do Norte

Rain, sand, mud and jungle, it creates the natural habitat on private land and fallow land or in areas of the pond to capture rainwater, conducive to the proliferation of the African snail, a species of mollusk hermaphrodite (not dependent on a partner, female or male, to play), which may bring inconvenience to people and spreading disease, but is present in four regions of Natal.

The coordinator of the Program for Control of African snail Zoonoses Center, Maria do Socorro Board, said yesterday that in high season, December to February, calls for collection of snails varies from 10 to 15 per day. But when the period of winter, according to them, an increase in the number of calls: "We do 50 to 60 visits and collected around 250 to 300 pounds of snail per day in each field, depending on the size of the area .

The African snail was brought to Brazil in the 80s, an attempt at commercial exploitation of their meat that ended not going well. How is an exotic species, she continued, the population also ends not helping, "giving shelter to them." Relief House explained that the proliferation of African snails is like dengue, there is awareness of the population is not eradicate the pest, because "many owners of vacant land does not bother to do their cleaning."

For her, despite the public service to maintain a duty to control the plague of snails, is not solving all "only with manual collection."

Relief House warns also that there is no natural predator to control the reproduction of snails Africa, USA or if any kind of poison to combat it, first because this technique taria environmental problems and harm the soil.

The orientation of the Center for Control of Zoonoses is that, if not required the intervention of the body, people can kill the snail, using gloves or plastic bags and then to merge them with a shovel or other instrument, placing them in a container. "Then, just throw salt or bleach and then to kill them, bury them enough," she explained.

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