An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
August 16th, 2014
Dietary Advice From Your Friendly ID Doc: Don’t Eat Garden Slugs
From the pages of Open Forum Infectious Diseases, comes this cautionary case report:
Toxocariasis After Slug Ingestion Characterized by Severe Neurologic, Ocular, and Pulmonary Involvement
I encourage you to read the full paper, but the short story is that a previously healthy 71-year-old man was admitted to a hospital in France with fever, cough, headaches, confusion, and eosinophilia. A comprehensive (that’s an understatement) work-up found elevated antibody levels to Toxocara canis, otherwise known as the dog roundworm.
But the case truly hinges on this sensational sentence.
One month later, a reassessment of the case history revealed a long-standing daily intake of 2 or 3 raw local slugs for alternative therapy of gastroesophageal reflux; this information prompted us to perform further investigations.
Vive La France!
And oh yeah, ID doctors take the best medical histories.
4 Responses to “Dietary Advice From Your Friendly ID Doc: Don’t Eat Garden Slugs”
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
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Thanks Paul. It will be tough to give up the slug habit!
The patient should have stuck with escargot (on view in the video). Vive la France, indeed!
Escargot anyone!
But the snail next to the mating slug, that’s edible? Cooked of course.