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| Australian doctors warn against slug eating after student almost dies
SYDNEY, Oct 19 (AFP) - Australian doctors have issued a bizarre warning about eating slugs after a student contracted a potentially fatal brain disease when he swallowed some of the slimy gastropods for a dare. Advising those with a taste for escargot to stick to reputable French restaurants, the medicos said there had been numerous cases of meningitis since 1971 caused by people eating garden snails or slugs. BizVantage – When knowing counts: Business, Investing, Technology. One child died after eating snails and one patient contracted meningitis after eating lettuce covered with snail slime, a report in the Medical Journal of Australia due to be published Monday said. Sydney University parasitologist John Walker said the most recent case was a Sydney student who ate two slugs from the garden as a dare for 20 dollars (13.80 US). Walker, said tests found the man's meningitis was caused by a worm normally seen in rat lungs but carried as larvae in slugs and snails. The worm caused the brain lining to swell, forcing doctors to drain fluid from inside the man's skull. He was hospitalised for 17 days and it was five months before he could resume his studies. Walker reported the man's friend also swallowed some slugs as part of the dare but promptly vomited them up, foregoing his 20 dollars. ns/sdm Australia-slugs-offbeat C O P Y R I G H T R E M I N D E RThis article is Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse. All articles in the clari.* news hierarchy are Copyrighted and licensed to ClariNet Communications Corp. for distribution. Except for articles in the biz.clarinet newsgroups, only paid subscribers may access these articles. Any unauthorized access, reproduction or transmission is strictly prohibited. We offer a reward to the person who first provides us with information that helps stop those who distribute or receive our news feeds without authorization. Please send reports to reward@clari.net. [Use info@clari.net for sales or other inquiries.] Details on the use of ClariNet material and other info can be found in the user documentation section of our web page.
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