Na Koa Fundraiser, Breaking Resolution

Ferd Lewis writes that Na Koa is gearing up to raise more funds.

Saying the University of Hawai'i football team is "at an economic crossroads" to remaining competitive in a tough economy, its head coach and booster club are asking fans to help raise more than $1.65 million in aid for the centennial season this fall.

"Over 20,000 Warrior football fans and contributors," were asked to pitch in, according to the letter sent out and signed by coach Greg McMackin and Na Koa president Rick Blangiardi.

And even though I don't live on the Big Island, I'm totally breaking my New Year's resolution to eat more salad.

A rare ailment that comes from eating poorly washed local produce has hit three Big Island residents in recent weeks, causing extreme pain and hospitalization.

The ailment, rat lungworm disease, is caused by a parasitic worm carried by slugs or snails.

Most people fully recover without treatment, health officials say. But rat lungworm disease can cause significant pain and trauma, including paralysis, blindness and death, as occurred in a fatal case in Taiwan in 1944, according to a joint state-federal study.

The disease arises from parasitic worms, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, sometimes ingested inadvertently by eating raw produce that contains a small snail or slug. The worms migrate through the human body and usually die after several weeks.

I don't think you can have a more disgusting-sounding name than "rat lungworm disease", but what the disease actually is sounds 10 times more disgusting. Lettuce? Peppers? I'm deep frying all my produce, dammit.