A Chinese woman, 78, and her 46-year-old son have been hospitalised in after eating raw centipedes. While you might expect some nasty side-effects from munching on the little beasties to begin with, it turns out the cause of their ailments is actually a dangerous parasite hiding within the insect.
The woman was admitted to Zhujiang Hospital in the Chinese city of Guangzhou after experiencing headaches and drowsiness for weeks. About a month later, her son also came in complaining of problems after also eating the creatures raw.
The doctors found the family was experiencing the effects of a parasite known as ‘Angiostrongylus cantonensis’ – which is also known as the ‘rat lungworm’. So-called because it appears to have a preference for the arteries of rats’ lungs.
Worryingly, this is the first time the parasite (which can be fatal to humans) has been found in a centipede. It is more commonly discovered inside certain snails and other molluscs. Centipedes are used in a variety of traditional Chinese medicines – although they’re usually ground up into powder. Eating them raw is slightly less common.
“We don’t typically hear of people eating raw centipedes, but apparently these two patients believed that raw centipedes would be good for their health,” said Lingli Lu from Zhujiang Hospital. “Instead it made them sick.” Thankfully, both mother and son were successfully treated, but some rat lungworm infections can be far more serious.
It can penetrate the brain and spinal cord, which can lead to meningitis and, in rare instances, paralysis and death. Lu and fellow researchers managed to track down the marketplace in Guangdong where the centipedes were sold and confirmed that seven out of the 20 insects they purchased tested positive for the rat lungworm parasite.
Dried or crushed centipedes have been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a variety of issues including whooping cough, tetanus ,nostrum for epilepsy, stroke, cancer, tetanus or rheumatoid arthritis, the two-inch-long arthropods are supposed or after being steeped in alcohol and cardiovascular diseases.
Experts from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) highlighted this case as an example of physician scientists identifying and investigating unusual cases that present themselves through patient symptoms.
“The researchers not only found the source of infection in the laboratory, they did the work to show the wild centipedes that were in supply at the farmers’ market could have been a viable source of transmission,” said Dr Regina Rabinovich, the president of the ASTMH. Both the mother and son were put on a special treatment for three weeks and were cured of the parasitic infection.
Rat lungworm, which earned its nickname for its preference for the pulmonary arteries of rats, can cause mild infections that may go away on their own. But it can also penetrate the brain and spinal cord, resulting in meningitis (infection of the fluid around the brain) and, in rare cases, paralysis and death.
It’s the first time that rat lungworm, or Angiostrongylus cantonensis, has been detected in centipedes, the researchers said. It’s typically found in snails and other mollusks.
The parasite is mainly found in China and Southeast Asia. But it also has been detected in Hawaii, Louisiana, South Florida, the Caribbean and Africa, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Centipedes are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, usually in dried or powder form, which does not transmit rat lungworm, the case report authors explained.
Their findings were published July 30 in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
“We don’t typically hear of people eating raw centipedes, but apparently these two patients believed that raw centipedes would be good for their health,” said report co-author Lingli Lu, from the department of neurology at Zhujiang Hospital in Guangzhou.
“Instead, it made them sick,” Lu added in a journal news release.