Weekly Web Harvest for 2018-11-04

  • Why you should never ever eat a garden slug | TreeHugger
    According to news reports, 19-year-old Sam Ballard caved into a dare to swallow a slug. Tragically for Ballard, the slug came with the roundworm parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis, AKA the punk-rock-sounding rat lungworm. While when mature these parasites take residence in rats, in their youth they sometimes call slugs and snails home, creating a potential menace for anyone consuming raw or undercooked creatures harboring the parasite.
    As Mindy Weisberger writes for LiveSceince , “In Ballard’s case, the parasite caused a serious brain infection. He fell into a coma for 420 days and was paralyzed from the neck down when he was released from the hospital three years later….” Ballard remains paralyzed and requires full-time care