Sam, 19, ate a snail at a party – found himself paralyzed and died

19 years old Sam Ballard was like any teenager. But one night, eight years ago, it completely changed. It started with Sam and a friend of friends drinking red wine in the garden of a friend in Sydney, Australia.

"We sat here and spent a night at the red wine, trying to play the adults and then a snail came crawling here, saying Jimmy Galvin for the Network 10 television channel.

Jimmy was one of the friends who was there that night.

He keeps on:

– The conversation continued, you know. "Should I eat it?" And Sam continued. Bang. It was like that.

The evening of red wine is over with Sam, as a crowd, ate a snail in the garden of the friend.

What he did not know then was that this decision would change his life. A few days later, Sam began to feel terrible leg pain.

He was then worried about being affected by multiple sclerosis, multiple sclerosis – a serious and chronic muscle disease that also killed Sam's father. But that was not the case, so it was not the case. was actually worse than that.

The doctors later discovered that Sam had an Angiostrongylus cantonensis – a parasite. The mask is most often found in rodents, but snails can also be infected if they eat rat disease.

The infection Sam suffered was the one that recovered the best, but Sam did not have this trip. Instead, he was in a coma for 420 days and when he woke up, his brain was badly injured.

The harm meant that Sam was completely paralyzed, unable to eat himself and needed care 24 hours a day. But his mental abilities were not affected by the infection.

– He's here, 100%. I apologized to Sam for everything that happened in the garden that night. And he started talking. I know he's there, "says friend Jimmy Galvin.

But last week, Sam did not hurry to fight.

On Friday morning, Sam went to Hornsby Hospital, not far from where he grew up, writes news.co.au.

What is Angiostrongylus cantonensis?

The illness that Sam suffered from is called "rat lungworm disease" and is caused by the parasite Angiostronjilus cantonensis. As its name suggests, the parasite, which is a mask, is located in the lungs of rats. He then goes out with the rat's bait.

For example, when a snail, a freshwater crab, a shrimp or a frog rises past and tastes bait, they can also be infected with the parasite. People can be infected if they eat raw meat from sick animals.

When the parasite affects a human, it differs from the body of the rat. Instead, parasite larvae can fail, reach the brain and then remain there. This can lead to a type of serious meningitis.

Symptoms of meningitis can include headache, nausea, fever, stiff neck, and sensitivity to light and sound, according to the Health Guide. People can not infect each other.

The parasite is not usually in Sweden, fortunately. But if you go to Samoa, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Fiji, Hawaii, Japan or China, it's good to be on your guard. Most of the victims had the parasite in Southeast Asia or in one of the Pacific Islands. In 2017, a Swede carrying the parasite in Hawaii reportedly reported a case to the public health authority.

Read also about 26 years old Luis who went to the doctor with a headache – and was told that he only had maybe half an hour to live.