Nevertheless they are popular pets in Switzerland and other European countries. Jérôme Gippet has published a paper on that topic in collaboration with Jérémie Moulin and Olivia Bates in the journal Parasites and Vectors.
It is urgent to raise public awareness of the health risks associated with L. fulica in both tropical countries and Europe and to regulate its trade and ownership internationally. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for multiple types of human-wildlife interactions when assessing risks of infectious disease emergence. Furthermore, by targeting the species most likely to spread pathogens, we show that it is possible to rapidly identify emerging disease risks on a global scale, thus guiding timely and appropriate responses.
Link to paper
UNIL press release here
SwissInfo (in English)