A Boy Ate A Slug On A Dare And Ended Up Paralyzed
In 2010, 19-year-old Sam Ballard and his friends were indulging in a casual night of wine drinking on a back patio in Sydney, Australia, when the group came up with a seemingly harmless idea. As a slug inched its way across the concrete, Ballard asked his friends if he should eat it. When his pals didn't question the idea, he tossed the slug into his mouth and swallowed.
Soon after, Ballard began experiencing strange symptoms. When he complained that he felt intense leg pain, Ballard's mother feared he might be developing multiple sclerosis. Doctors uncovered the real culprit as his symptoms progressed - Ballard had ingested a slug carrying rat lungworm disease.
This parasitic worm settles into the lungs of rats before eventually being discharged through their feces. When a slug, freshwater crab, shrimp, or frog comes in contact with the feces, it then contracts the parasite itself.
Unfortunately, the worm doesn't move through the human digestive tract in the same manner that it does a rat's. Instead, the parasite can be lost in the body, eventually lodging itself in the brain. Soon, the unwanted organism causes inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, called eosinophilic meningitis.
Though most recorded cases have mild consequences, some, like Ballard's, end with devastating results. Ballard fell into a 420-day coma shortly after the diagnosis. When he awoke, he was completely paralyzed and forced to eat through the use of a feeding tube. He eventually perished due to his injuries.
