Dad infected with parasites after wreaking revenge on crab for pinching his daughter

A father in China was hospitalised after eating a whole live crab for “revenge” after the crustacean nipped his young daughter beside a stream.

Two months after 39-year-old Lu from Zhejiang in eastern China swallowed the crab, he visited the hospital with back pain, the South China Morning Post reported.

Tests found changes to his chest, abdomen, liver and digestive system, though the source of the issues was unknown.

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The director of the digestive system department at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, Dr Cao Qian told local media that doctors asked Lu whether he had ever eaten game or something unusual that could have caused allergies.

When Lu’s wife recalled the crab-eating incident, Cao said Lu admitted he had 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’.”

Blood tests later found Lu had been infected by at least three different parasites, understood to have been caused by eating the crab.

He was treated for the parasites and has since recovered, but still requires checkups.

A 39-year old father in China has been hospitalised after eating a crab in an act of ‘revenge’ after it nipped his daughter. Credit: China Photos / Getty Images

While raw crab is not commonly eaten in China, drunken crab is a recipe popular in the Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, and involves marinating raw crab in liquor.

“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.

Various cultures believe in the medicinal properties of raw crab, but the risk of parasitic infection is known to be high.

A Hangzhou woman was infected with at least six parasites in 2020, after ingesting 30 raw crabs crushed and soaked in rice wine - a folk remedy she believed would help strengthen her bones, local media reported.

She reportedly experienced respiratory distress and water in her lungs for six months afterwards.