Best you wash that lettuce…

SCIENTISTS in China have hard evidence that eating raw centipedes is a bad idea.

The arthropods are an established remedy in traditional Chinese medicine. The 2cm centipedes are supposed to be eaten dried, powdered or after being steeped in alcohol – not raw.

A study recently published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene describes two patients who ended up with rat lungworms in their brains after eating wild-caught centipedes. They were admitted in 2012 with headaches and stiff necks. Both recovered after treatment.

Rat lungworms can be life-threatening. They usually infect only people who eat raw snails or slugs, including the unlucky salad-eaters who accidentally ingest slugs with unwashed lettuce.

The new study is the first proving they can be found in centipedes, too. – The New York Times