Man dies eight years after eating garden slug

An Australian man has died eight years after eating a garden slug sent him into a coma.

Sam Ballard was just 19, drinking wine with his friends in 2010, when he was dared to eat a slug that had crawled into the area, Australia's 7News reported.

He spent three years in hospital with an array of medical complications following the incident, but passed away on Friday.

 



He was infected with "rat lungworm" from the slug, a worm commonly found in rodents, but often transferred through faeces eaten by slugs and snails.

He contracted eosinophilic meningo-encephalitis and was in a coma for 420 days with a severe infection to his brain.

His friends Jimmy Galvin and Michael Sheasby spoke with The Project Australia earlier this year about the incident.

"We were sitting over here having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown-ups and a slug came crawling across here," said Mr Galvin.

"The conversation came up, should I eat it? Off Sam went. Bang. That's how it happened."

In Facebook posts from 2011, Sam's mum Katie Ballard described Sam's progress with breathing and moving, saying he was working hard to get better.

"Sam is doing really well. He's still the same cheeky Sam, and laughs a lot," she said.

"He will walk and talk again (thank god) but the time factor is what we don't know."

Mr Ballard died on Friday surrounded by his friends, who had supported him closely over the past eight years, according to 7News.

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