Can you Eat a Slug and live to tell About it?

 Before we proceed, You need to understand what is a slug"

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slug¹

/sləɡ/

noun

1. 1.

   a tough-skinned terrestrial mollusk which typically lacks a shell and secretes a film of mucus for protection. It can be a serious plant pest.

In 2010, Australian teenager Sam Ballard was drinking with his friends when they saw a slug crawl across the floor.

Sam’s friends dared him to eat the slug and after some debate he decided it would be funny, so he did. A few days later Sam became weak and complained of severe pain in his legs. After visiting the emergency room doctors told him that he had contracted a parasite known as ‘rat lungworm’ from the slug. Soon after the diagnosis, Sam fell into a coma, where he remained for 420 days. He woke up paralyzed, unable to eat without a tube or move without intense effort. He required 24-hour care, seven days a week. He died 8 years later in 2018.

Before the tragic incident, Sam Ballard was a promising 19-year-old rugby player from Sydney, Australia. He was popular in Sydney and described as a “larrikin” by his mother. His life took a turn when he made a random decision that would prove fatal during a weekend get-together with friends. The friends were having a “bit of a red wine appreciation night,” when a typical garden slug crawled out in front of them1. In a moment of teenage bravado, perhaps influenced by the wine, Ballard was dared to eat the slug. The slug that Ballard ate was carrying a parasitic worm usually found in rodents1. This worm can transfer to slugs and snails if they eat rodent excrement. When Ballard ate the live slug, it transferred to him. When a human ingests rat lungworm larvae, they penetrate the inner lining of the intestinal tract and work their way into the liver and lungs, then into the central nervous system. In most instances, rat lungworm disease causes only mild symptoms, if any, and most people who contract the illness recover within a matter of days or weeks. However, there are those rare instances where the symptoms are much more severe, as was the case with Sam Ballard. Ballard’s mother, Katie, was always optimistic for what the future held for him. For years, he suffered from seizures, was forced to eat and breathe through tubes and required constant care. His family struggled to pay for his care. In 2011, Katie Ballard wrote on Facebook that her son was “still the same cheeeeeeeekkkyyy Sam” and that she believed he would talk and walk again. His last words to his mother were, "I love you,".