(Icky Alert)For a $20 dar, man nearly dies after eating garden slugs.

New.Com.AU ^ | 20Oct03 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Man nearly dies after eating slugs

October 20, 2003

A SYDNEY student who ate slugs from a suburban backyard for a $20 dare got more than he bargained for when he contracted a potentially deadly form of meningitis.

The young man was diagnosed with eosinophilic meningitis, or swelling of the brain membranes, five weeks after eating two slugs in 2001, the Medical Journal of Australia reports today.

His friend also ate slugs but vomited them up, losing the $20 but saving himself a potential case of meningitis, parasitologist John Walker said.

There have been numerous similar cases recorded since 1971, including a child who died after eating garden snails and a person suspected of eating lettuce contaminated with slug or snail slime.

Dr Walker, from the University of Sydney, reports that the meningitis was caused by a worm found in rat lungs, but carried as larvae in slugs and snails.

"Repeated questioning revealed that the patient had ingested, five weeks earlier for a dare, two slugs from a garden in a Sydney suburb," Dr Walker wrote.

Dr Walker said the man needed to have fluid drained from his brain and spent 17 days in hospital. It was five months before he returned to full time studies and sport.

The Daily Telegraph

[TADSLOS]

A $20 slime.

[blackdog]

Most slimey things should not be introduced to the mouth. There is one exception though according to my wife's demands.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Everyone in the Pacific Northwest knows you have to cook them first. Duh!

[Maceman]

Doesn't proper cooking eliminate the risk?

Slug sushi is not my idea of a good time, but if they taste like traditional French escargot when sauteed with butter and garlic -- and if that process eliminates the risk -- what could be bad?

I love escargot, but now that I'm boycotting France, I only eat UScargot.

[mtbopfuyn]

French conspiracy! It wasn't the summer heat but the escargot.

[Rebelbase]

You're supposed to salt'em first.

[UnklGene]

I had "snails" for lunch once. You guessed it........., felt "sluggish" the rest of the day.

[Slicksadick]

YUMMY!!!

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

A bad, bad disease. The Thai wife of one of the members of an "A" Team I was on contracted this, probably by eating water plants containing small snails. She survived- after weeks of intensive care.

[Darksheare]

NOW we know what's wrong with France!!

[theDentist]

"For a $20 dar, man nearly dies after eating garden slugs."

What's the average cost of a "dar" down under anyhow? Are they more expensive if they're hugh? I'm just trying to figgr out if this is series.

[Rodney King]

The Thai wife of one of the members of an "A" Team I was on

Wow, who were you, Murdoch, the Face, or B.A. Baracas?

[yankeedame]

I love escargot, but now that I'm boycotting France, I only eat UScargots

From the keepers of odd knowledge: Almost all of the supposedly "French" escargots, like the supposedly "French" frogs legs come from Greece.

[ClearCase_guy]

The young man was diagnosed with eosinophilic meningitis, or swelling of the brain membranes...

Wow! After a disease like that attacks his brain, this young man is probably not as smart as he used to be. Which is scary ...

[AMNZ]

Aussie Cuisine. Proof Kiwi's are smarter.

[yankeedame]

What's the average cost of a "dar" down under anyhow? Are they more expensive if they're hugh? I'm just trying to figgr out if this is series.

LOL! All right, smarty pants....it's just that even the thought of...of those nasty things...(bbbbrrrrr....) makes my tummy and brain go :op

[oh8eleven]

Surely you jest.

[stainlessbanner]

Well dat der was a stoopid dar!