Hangzhou woman swallows live frogs, develops sparganum infection

An 82-year-old woman in Hangzhou, eastern China, was hospitalized in early September after swallowing eight live frogs in an attempt to relieve chronic lower back pain, hospital staff said. The woman, identified only by her surname Zhang, sought emergency care for severe abdominal pain and was later found to have a parasitic infection linked to the amphibians she ingested.

Zhang, who had long suffered from a herniated disc, asked relatives to catch small frogs and swallowed three on the first day and five the next, according to accounts from her family and treating physicians. Her son told doctors, "My mother ate eight live frogs. Now the sharp pain has made her unable to walk." After her abdominal pain intensified, family members brought her to Zhejiang University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital in Hangzhou, where clinicians first ruled out a tumor. Blood tests showed an elevated number of oxyphil cells, a finding that can indicate parasitic infection or certain blood disorders, and subsequent examinations confirmed parasites in her digestive system.

A hospital doctor said, "Swallowing frogs has damaged the patient's digestive system and resulted in some parasites being present in...