MMmmm yummy...
Posted on 10/19/2003 3:27:11 AM PDT by petuniasevan
Eating Snails Can Kill, Australian Medics Say
SYDNEY (Reuters) - While escargot is the pride of French cuisine, eating common garden slugs or snails can be fatal.
The Medical Journal of Australia made the discovery after a patient with mysterious symptoms was found to have eaten two garden slugs for a dare.
A young man who showed puzzling symptoms over a period of weeks was diagnosed with human eosinophilic meningitis after eating the molluscs, which are hosts of the larval stage of a lung worm parasite, the Journal said.
"Repeated questioning revealed that the patient had ingested, five weeks earlier for a dare, two slugs from a garden in a Sydney suburb," said co-author of the report John Walker of the Department of Medicine at Sydney University.
"Humans become accidental hosts when they ingest the larval stage in raw or undercooked molluscs or crustaceans, or in fresh vegetables contaminated by infected molluscs," Walker said.
It was five months before the patient was able to return to full-time studies and competitive sport.
The Angiostrongylus cantonensis parasite is the most common infectious cause of eosinophilic meningitis worldwide and is endemic in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin.
In Australia, the first human infection with the A. cantonensis parasite was reported in 1971. Since then a fatal case occurred in a child who ingested molluscs in a suburban Brisbane garden.
MMmmm yummy...
I love snails, garlic butter, crusty bread, and a cold beer.
What's a guy to do?
Gonna have to find a good clam bar.
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