Man dies after being paralyzed for eight years when he ate a slug on a dare |
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11-05-2018, 03:41 PM | #1 |
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Man dies after being paralyzed for eight years when he ate a slug on a dare
Man dies after being paralyzed for eight years when he ate a slug on a dare https://bgr.com/2018/11/05/slug-eati...a-sam-ballard/
This is truly shocking! The whole story: If you've ever watched an episode of Man vs Wild or Survivorman you know that the human body can digest some pretty wild stuff. Those programs show how surviving in the wild often means munching on all manner of unsavory critters, but the death of a young man in Australia is a stark reminder that eating creepy-crawlies can end in disaster. Sam Ballard, a rugby player who was having a drink with is friends at a social gathering, ended up on the wrong end of a dare when a small slug appeared near where the boys were sitting. Ballard ultimately took the challenge, thinking the worst that could happen was an upset stomach, and swallowed the bug. Now, eight years later, he's dead. Ballard's plight has been written about at length, and the story is almost too heartbreaking to believe. Shortly after eating the bug he began to feel ill. He wasn't faced with a rumbling stomach, however, but extreme pain in his legs, and doctors were baffled at the cause. Eventually medical professionals discovered that he had contracted what is called a "rat lungworm," which is a nasty parasite that most people (including me) have never even heard of. The parasite marched on Ballard's brain, slowly destroying its host while he was powerless to stop it. His motor skills degraded rapidly and he was confined to a wheelchair, unable to go to the bathroom or even eat on his own. He fell into a coma about seven years after the slug eating incident, and the infection ultimately claimed his life last week. His mother, who was his primary caretaker, held out hope that he would recover, but there was nothing that could be done to stop the parasite's progression. The parasite is often found in rodents but it can be transmitted to insects like slugs if they come into contact with rodent feces. This seems to be what happened in Ballard's case, and he could never have known the dangers that eating the slug would bring. |
11-05-2018, 03:42 PM | #2 | |
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11-05-2018, 04:00 PM | #3 |
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Darwin's theories at work...............
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11-05-2018, 04:06 PM | #4 |
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but it's still OK to earn $15 the hard way by eating earthworms when you go fishing with your brothers, right?
Right? RIGHT?????? asking for a friend |
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11-05-2018, 05:29 PM | #5 |
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There are loads of parasites (mostly flatworms and roundworms) that use snails/slugs as their host in part of their life cycle.
Usually they creep into the snails tentacles where they move back and forth, simultaniously control its brain to creep to a high place. The movement in the snails tentacles mimic the look of a larva or caterpillar; favorite food of birds. The snail/slug gets eaten, the roundworm/flatworm produces offspring in the birds stomach, gets shit out on leaves where snails eat the droppings or travel over it. Circle complete. There are thousends of parasites that use such a cycle with the snail/slug. They're always the ones getting screwed. Fascinating 1st year material at university studying biology. Never eat a raw slug/snail. Also never eat a raw fish (uncooked or commercially frozen) thats not rated for consumption (like one you catch yourself). Fish are also full of parasites.
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Last edited by GuidoK; 11-05-2018 at 05:37 PM.. |
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11-05-2018, 05:56 PM | #6 |
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That's sad. Reminds me of a time when I was getting drunk and a slug was crawling near our drinks. I pick it up and put it in a shot of vodka. Surprisingly, I lost the bet and had to drink it while the slug was bathing in the vodka for over 5 minutes. I didn't have to eat it but had to drink every drip of that slug juice. Day after that, I went to the hospital for a collapsed lung. Still curious if they were related. Just glad I didn't have to eat it.
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11-05-2018, 06:00 PM | #7 |
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That collapsed lung is probably related....
to the amount of alcohol consumed that night
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11-05-2018, 06:02 PM | #8 |
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kind of makes me question my weekly sushi dinners lol
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11-05-2018, 06:04 PM | #10 |
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Everything down here can kill you, never forget that!!!!
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11-05-2018, 07:04 PM | #11 | |
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If you cut a flatworm in 2, you have 2 flatworms. If you cut a flatworm in 2 only half the lenght, you have 1 flatworm with 2 heads. If you train a flatworm to always crawl to the left (by means of electric shock or heat or whatever), and you grind that flatworm up, feed it to another flatworm.... it will crawl to the left 5min of 40% alcohol wont kill it for sure I think Most people think that if this planet gets nuked 3 times over, the creature that will survive it will be a spider or a cockroach... I think it'll be a worm
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Last edited by GuidoK; 11-05-2018 at 07:13 PM.. |
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11-05-2018, 07:24 PM | #12 |
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There is a disease called schistosomiasis, which is caused by a whole family of flatworms (could be hundreds but also thousends of different species of flatworms), and is a real problem in the tropics. And often lethal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schistosomiasis If you read the wiki article you'll see that again the snails form an integral part in the lifecycle of all those parasites. This is a CDC diagram of the worms' lifecycle: This diagram talks about eating the fish, but you can also get flatworm infections directly through your skin, so swimming in infested water etc.
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11-05-2018, 07:28 PM | #13 | |
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11-05-2018, 07:31 PM | #14 | |
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11-05-2018, 07:37 PM | #16 | |
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That kills everything, including germs. But things like salad could be washed with unpure/dirty/infested water of course.
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11-06-2018, 02:44 AM | #17 |
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This is some scary shit. I’m surprised we don’t hear more about things like this from all the survival shows...ie Naked and Affraid, Alone etc....
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11-06-2018, 06:25 AM | #18 | |
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There's a weird thing called risk assessment and it's staggering the percentage of people that lack it. |
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11-06-2018, 07:26 AM | #19 |
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The western world has had multiple generations now, of sanitation and antibiotics. Both have created a sense of semi-immortality, where we are offended if medial science isn't able to cure whatever ails us.
Funky weird stuff like this has been killing humans for eons. Worms, snails, etc. are "bottom feeders," which act as filters for the planet: - pigs eat poo - some cities maintain herds of them to consume the waste from sewage treatment - shellfish consume the toxins and waste products in bays and oceans - catfish, sharks, and other skinned fish eat poo, other dead creatures, and all sorts of skank - toxins in cattle and other large mammals are stored in the hard fat deposits - the blood of any mammal has all sorts of nasty in it Humans are at the top of the food chain... Enjoy your dinner!
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11-06-2018, 07:35 AM | #20 |
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Speaking of... I just read this article. Kudos to Gates for trying to do something about it:
https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/poop-...on-doc-1al7lu3 According to UNICEF, 892 million people worldwide have no choice but to defecate in the open. India's government says its public health drive has slashed the number of people in the country forced to defecate in the open from 550 million in 2014 to less than 150 million today. There are 7 billion people on the planet. 12.7% are crapping in the open? Even worse, there are 1.4 billion people in India (which is about 1/3 the land mass of the US - which has 330m people). In 2014, 39% of the country was crapping in the open?! Today, over 10% are still crapping in the open?!! Maybe they need more Starbucks stores?
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11-06-2018, 07:48 AM | #21 |
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Sad story for sure, but it did say he was a Rugby player, so I think he already failed the 'good safety judgement' test . And if you want super creepy, check out the parasites that crawl up into you when you are submerged in water. International Medicine makes Stephen King seem like a children's book author.
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11-06-2018, 08:17 AM | #22 | |
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Asshole! |
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