A second Big Island resident is in a coma with rat lungworm disease, a rare ailment that can cause significant pain and trauma, including paralysis and blindness.

Graham McCumber, 24, of Kapoho has been in intensive care at the Queen's Medical Center for the past few days, according to a family member and friend.

McCumber, a construction worker who also worked on an organic farm, is among three Big Island people recently afflicted with the disease. One of them, 38-year-old Silka Strauch of Black Sands, was admitted to Hilo Medical Center on Dec. 8 and has been in a coma for weeks.

Strauch's friend Zsolt Halda, 34, also of Black Sands, was being cared for by his mother at a hotel on the Big Island, after being released from the hospital. Halda said he and Strauch probably contracted the disease after eating vegetables containing larvae of a slug that carries the rat lungworm.

Like Halda and Strauch, McCumber grew his own vegetables.

“;To have a 24-year-old kid dying from eating a salad is beyond my comprehension,”; said McCumber's friend Dennis Letvin.

McCumber's uncle Geoff Rauch said Graham, who was noticeably sick by Dec. 18, has sustained a lot of brain damage. “;It doesn't look good,”; Rauch said.

Rauch said he has known other people who have contracted the disease, but none as severe.

“;I think everyone is taken aback by this,”; Rauch said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most victims recover from the disease. But the critical condition of McCumber and Strauch points out the potential for extreme consequences.

The disease occurs when parasitic worms are passed from rat feces to slugs or snails and then to people.

The worms usually die after several weeks but can cause significant pain and damage to the nervous system and, in some instances, paralysis, blindness and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Letvin, an organic farmer, said with economic hard times, people turning to backyard gardening should be aware of the dangers of growing leafy vegetables without taking precautions.

“;My concern is we night be hammering nails on our children's coffins,”; he said.

Letvin said he has pulled out all of his leafy vegetables and thrown them away because there was nothing in the world worth the suffering from the disease.

He said he hopes government officials will work on a program to eliminate the rats and snails that carry the rat lungworm disease.

There is no diagnostic test that definitely confirms the presence of the disease, short of finding the parasite, and physicians rely partially on the likelihood of exposure through a patient's food history, according to state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park.

There is no medical treatment for the disease, and physicians treat the symptoms with pain relievers for aches and steroids for inflammation, Park said earlier this month.

Park said people cultivating home-grown vegetables need to clean them leaf by leaf, and warned that a species of slug on the Big Island has tiny larvae, about 1 to 2 millimeters long.