"If you're considering eating raw or undercooked snails, slugs or centipedes — you may want to think again."
Posted on 11/05/2018 9:30:32 AM PST by ETL
Sam Ballard never did anything wrong, if you ask family and friends.
The teenager from Sydney’s upper north shore was having a laugh and some red wine with mates in the backyard, “trying to act like grown-ups”.
It was 2010 and it was a night that would change his life, and the lives of everybody around him, forever.
A slug crawled across the concrete patio and, teens being teens, a dare emerged for Sam to eat it.
One of his best friends, Jimmy Galvin, later described the moment.
“We were sitting over here having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown-ups and a slug came crawling across here,” he said.
“The conversation came up, you know. ‘Should I eat it?’ And off Sam went. Bang. That’s how it happened.”
He didn’t become sick immediately, but complained of serious pain in his legs in the days after.
He was worried it might’ve been a symptom of eating the slug, but his mother told him not to worry: “No one gets sick from that,” she said.
Sam was worried he might have developed multiple sclerosis, like his father, but that was ruled out.
Doctors later determined Sam was infected with rat lungworm.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
If you're considering eating raw or undercooked snails, slugs or centipedes — you may want to think again.
Some of these delicacies may carry "rat lungworm," a parasite that can infect critters through rodent feces.
Here's what you should know about the parasitic roundworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, and how it can be avoided.
Rodents have the adult form, with sickened rats passing the parasite's larvae in feces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says online.
"People also can get infected by accident, by eating raw produce (such as lettuce) that contains a small snail or slug or part of one," the CDC says.
University of South Florida researchers have warned that coma and death are possible with very serious infections.
If someone's infected, however, they cannot transmit the parasite to somebody else.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Like every other critter in Australia their slugs probably pack a dose of deadly toxins with no antidotes.
FAIL
Years back in Ketchikan a young drunken fisherman swallowed a rough-skinned newt on a dare. The newt produces a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin and he was dead in a few hours.
It’s Australia......even the slugs will kill you................
Here is the kid from this story...
That’s a very sad case. I read about him a few years back.
Teenagers are in the best shape they will ever be and often think that nothing can hurt them.
The young man is to be honest in a better place now.
At least he is not suffering now.
His mom is a hero for providing him care during most of that time. She had to learn a lot about patient care, and learn it quickly. His friends were polite enough to come see him every so often, which was very kind. Some people don’t know how to deal with having a friend who has a profound disability. Most people would just stop all contact.
So, it wasn’t a garden grub but a rat lungworm. I’ll tell the kitties, who enjoy bringing me grubs, not to eat rat lungworms.
Bear Grylles from Man vs Wild eats lots of critters. I wonder if he take some kind of a preventative medicine?
Even in my most wasted moments would I ever think of eating anything more dangerous than pizza.
Most folks who ‘live off the land’ know exactly what they’re eating. Well more exactly than the average person does.
Accidents still happen. Every year I hear of a family that went out picking mushrooms and chooses some version of the Death Cap.
Then the whole family is in the hospital, either comatose or awake while awaiting their liver transplants.
For me, the Super Market provides enough ‘wilderness’ for me.
This boy was in a coma for about 440 days before he awoke with permanent brain damage. The mother probably should habe let him go during that coma, but then, that is easy for me to say.
I was not related to him. I understand that.
Nope. Rat lungworms are worldwide. Never eat a (land or freshwater) mollusc without cooking it. Same goes for crustaceans. More than a few people have gotten rat lungworm from eating raw crawfish.
problem is people eat salads everyday- and slugs crawl on raw produce all the time- people in Hawaii were getting rat lung worm just from eating salads
Prayers for his family.
You may (or may also) be referring to the LUNG FLUKE, whose cycle includes time in crayfish. NEVER, NEVER eat any arthropods that are not completely cooked. We used to eat grass shrimp raw when I was a kid... Stupid!
Horrifying disease. About as bad as a combination of a stroke and peripheral neuropathy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.