A parasite that killed the Australian Sam Ballard, slug eater, is seen in a video

TheLast week, Australian Sam Ballard died of an eight-year-old illness that began with an unexpected attacker: a garden slug he swallowed in a hurry.

In 2010, at the age of 19, the rugby player attended a small rally with some friends and encouraged him to swallow a sharp slug. This exploit may have been safe – if a bit rude – except that the slug contained a hidden parasite: a nematode called Angiostrongylus cantonensis, commonly called rat lung worm.

Shortly after swallowing the slug, Ballard became paralyzed. He suffered brain damage and never fully recovered. He died Friday at the age of 28.

Despite Ballard's untimely death, he was fortunate to receive medical care that helped him earn a few more years with his family and friends. Many animals that meet A. cantonensis are not as lucky as in the case of the tawny frog (Podargus strigoides) in the video above. ☝

Ballard probably infected this Australian bird by eating an infected mollusk like a slug or snail. As the video shows, the infected bird is largely paralyzed and has trouble breathing. But if he was infected while eating a snail, why is this disease called rat lungworm disease? All of this has to do with the strange life cycle of the parasite.

The video above from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that A. cantonensis infects the lungs of a rat, usually living in the pulmonary artery, the blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the lungs. Finally, the worms are simply in in the lungs of the rat, how much the unfortunate animal coughs them. And instead of spitting worms – because that would be pretty rude – the rat swallows worms. As most of us know, what is swallowed eventually crumbles and this is how the rat lung worm can infect other animals.

When a slug or snail slips over the poop of an infected rat, it eats worms or becomes an involuntary carrier when worms enter its body. Then, when a rat eats the infected mollusc, the whole process starts again. Sometimes, however, as in the case of Ballard or Tawny Frogmouth, a non-rat animal will be the victim of the wicked parasite.

And while it may seem far-fetched, Ballard is not alone. All over the world, people are infected with rat lungworm by accidentally eating poorly washed fruits or vegetables. They may contain worms left by slugs or snails, or they may contain the molluscs themselves. In one case, According to the CDC, a boy from New Orleans fell ill in 1993 with a suspicion of rat lungworm disease. In 1993, while he was eating a snail on a challenge, his illness disappeared without treatment.

In a 2016 article published in the journal Parasitology, a team of researchers presented the results of the examination of a handful of griffon mouths, as well as small Australian mammals who had contracted the disease. They write that a diagnosis is usually made based on symptoms and "history of shellfish consumption," as well as test results on the cerebrospinal fluid. The reason for the latter problem is that rat lungworm disease can cause eosinophilic meningitis, a condition characterized by a range of symptoms including coma and death. In Ballard's case, the doctors diagnosed him fairly quickly once he told them he had eaten the slug. At that time, it was too late though.

For the most part, this rare disease is not a concern. If someone is infected, they can not infect another person. The CDC recommends avoiding rat lungworm disease by washing the vegetables well under running water and by cooking crabs, shrimps or freshwater frogs well before eating them as they may eat slugs. and infected snails.