Man in China eats live crab that pinched daughter, ends up seriously ill with parasitic infections

The_King · October 26, 2022

A Chinese father, angered by a crab that pinched his daughter, ate the creature to punish it and ended up in hopsital with multiple parasitic infections.

South China Morning Post

A man in China became seriously ill after eating a live crab in an apparent act of revenge after the crustacean nipped his child with one of its pincers, Zhejiang Television reported on Monday (Oct 24).

The 39-year-old man named Lu from Zhejiang in eastern China was angered after a small crab attacked his daughter and decided to take revenge on the creature by swallowing it alive, according to doctors who treated him. The man went to a hospital with serious back pain two months later.

An initial checkup indicated pathology changes in his chest, abdomen, liver and digestive system, but his doctor was unable to identify the exact cause. It was not until Lu’s wife recalled the crab-eating incident two months prior that doctors discovered was the source of the pain.

When Lu was admitted to hospital complaining of pain, he was asked about his diet, but claimed he had not eaten anything unusual, until his wife reminded him about eating the crab.
PHOTO: toutiao.com

“We repeatedly asked him if he had ever eaten game, or anything unusual, anything that could cause allergies. He said no to all,” said doctor Cao Qian, the director of the digestive system department at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou.

After his wife mentioned the incident, Lu admitted to the doctors that he had indeed eaten “something special”.

“I asked him, ‘Why did you eat a live crab?’ He said, ‘I wanted to take revenge for my daughter’,” Cao said.

“He said, ‘When we were by a stream my daughter was pinched by a small crab, so I got angry and put it into my mouth for revenge’.”

A subsequent blood test showed that Lu had been infected by at least three parasites from ingesting the crab. He has since recovered following treatment but still needs follow-up checkups.

Crab-eating is common in many areas of China and while they are normally eaten cooked, serving raw crabs is not unheard of in eastern China, especially in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, where the famous “drunken crabs” dish originates from.

The delicacy is normally marinated with liquor and seasoning for hours so that it “gets drunk” before being served.

“Theoretically it’s better to eat something marinated than completely raw because it has been treated with alcohol which can help kill parasites and bacteria. But it can’t kill all parasites, so it’s not 100 per cent safe either,” Cao said.

In 2020, a woman in Hangzhou was infected with at least six parasites and suffered from water in her lungs and respiratory distress for six months after eating 30 raw crabs, local media reported.

She said she was using a folk remedy she believed would strengthen her bones and pounded the live crabs into pieces, soaked them in rice wine then ate them raw.