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In 2010 , a teenage rugger actor in Australia named Sam Ballard accepted an unusual dare at a party : swallow a live garden slug . The experience left him paralytic and with significant brain damage , and on Friday ( Nov. 2 ) , Ballard died in a Sydney hospital at the age of 28 .
The strange and sad character pass because , along with the slug , Ballard had swallowed a sponge calledAngiostrongylus cantonensis , commonly have sex as rat lungworm , which the slug likely pick up from scum bag droppings , according to theU.K. ’s EveningStandard .
Eating raw or undercooked slugs can lead to infection by a parasitic nematode calledAngiostrongylus cantonensis, or rat lungworm.
Rat lungworm infectioncan lead to bacterial meningitis , which may let in symptoms such as headache , sickness , emesis , and " unnatural sensations " in the arms and leg , allot to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) . Typically , rat lungworm infections get best without discussion . But in some cases , serious complication can occur and cause severe disruption of the flighty system or even death , the CDC says . [ 8 Awful Parasite Infections That Will Make Your Skin Crawl ]
In the day after swallowing the bullet , Ballard develop pains in his legs and was hospitalized after spells of unyielding dizziness and vomit . Doctors diagnosed him with a git lungworm infection , and he fall into a coma that last 420 day , Live Sciencepreviously reported .
After Ballard emerged from the coma , he was paralyze from the neck opening down , had difficulty intercommunicate and call for ' round - the - clock care , according tothe Independent .
Eating raw or undercooked slugs can lead to infection by a parasitic nematode calledAngiostrongylus cantonensis, or rat lungworm.
Ballard ’s story made newspaper headline to begin with this twelvemonth after medical funding used for his tutelage and offer by the Australian politics ’s National Disability Insurance Scheme was thin by one-half ; the government finally reversed the decision follow extensive media coverage and an appeal by Ballard ’s kinfolk , News.com reported .
People can debar exposure to therat lungworm parasiteby avoid eat cutting or undercooked slugs and snails , frog , solid ground crabs , and fresh water half-pint , according to the CDC . Vegetables that may have come in contact with slug or snail should be washed before being eaten raw , and people preparing raw slugs or snails should soundly clean their hand and utensils after , the CDC says .
Originally publishedonLive Science .
