More details emerged this afternoon of the curious case of the young Sydney man who reportedly became severely ill after a dare to eat a slug.
A man who said he was a relative of the 21-year-old contacted Fairfax Media this afternoon to say the young man had been in a north Sydney hospital for almost a month.
"He was in the ICU unit for a period of time," said the family member, who gave his name but asked not to be identified and who would not identify his sick relative.
"It's a real warning for people not to eat a slug."
He said doctors had told the family his relative might have contracted rat lungworm parasitic disease from the slug.
Slugs such as the giant African snail can infect humans with bacteria, viruses and parasites - usually the rat lungworm, or Angiostrongylus parasite, NSW Health said.
The department's director of communicable diseases, Jeremy McAnulty, said in a statement today that people should not eat raw slugs or snails and should wash their hands after touching them.
"It is also important to thoroughly wash and cook any produce that could be contaminated by animals," he said.
"In the past, this sometimes has happened after a person has been dared to eat a slug or snail."
Symptoms of the non-infectious disease, while rare or short-lived, include "meningitis with headache, stiff neck, tingling or pain in the skin, fever, nausea, and vomiting", Dr McAnulty said.
"Even if infected, most people recover fully without treatment. However, it can sometimes cause severe meningitis. Because humans are not the natural host of the parasite, the parasite eventually dies without treatment."
The family member said doctors told him the man was expected to recover.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/rat-l ... -uzpj.html
Unnecessary warning
Unnecessary warning
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
