- An 11-year-old boy is hospitalized in Brazil after eating a fried lizard
- The child was staying with his father on November 6 and almost killed a gecko when he asked his stepmother if he could possibly eat one
- he managed to eat only one of the four he suffered before falling ill the next day and has been hospitalized three times
A Brazilian boy’s culinary curiosity has proven costly after he ate a fried gecko and became seriously ill, sending him to the hospital several times.
The 11-year-old child initially fell ill on November 7 after spending a weekend at his father’s house in the central city of Formosa, when the idea of eating a lizard piqued his interest, according to online news channel G1.
The dying boy almost killed a reptile while playing and approached his stepmother and her mother about possibly eating it.
The stepmother told the civilian police that they had come to an agreement that if he caught more lizards, she would prepare him a peculiar dish.
He eventually did so and returned with four, which the woman cleaned, seasoned and fried before eating.
The 11-year-old boy’s curiosity has caused him health problems after he ate one of four geckos his stepmother cooked for him on November 6. The child became ill the next day and was hospitalized two more times – the last hospital. The visit came on Wednesday and he stayed overnight.
A medical test on the 11-year-old boy (pictured) who came near a lizard on November 6 showed that “his intestinal flora is completely messed up because of the amount of bacteria in his body,” his mother told Brazilian news channel G1
“The father’s current mother-in-law is a very simple person. “It seems she has been hungry in the past and told the child that in the past people ate that because they were in need,” said Paulo Santos, chief of the civil police. .
Santos indicated he was unsure whether the stepmother and her mother would be charged because the boy was not forced to eat the animal.
His “bewildered” mother, Raquel de Souza, said she took him to Formosa State Hospital after he started having headaches, swelling in the tongue, diarrhea, vomiting and urinating a dark liquid.
The boy was discharged three days later, but his health deteriorated on Monday. He visited the hospital’s emergency room, where he spent several hours before being discharged.
On Wednesday evening he became ill again, requiring him to be hospitalized for the third time.
Doctors at Formosa State Hospital in Formosa, Brazil, on three separate occasions provided treatment to an 11-year-old boy who was with a friend lizard at his father’s house after telling his stepmother that he was interested in eating a lizard lizard.
An infectious disease doctor told Brazilian online media G1 that the boy who ate the fried gecko may have endangered his health if the animal was infected with parasites
The boy was discharged three days later, but his health deteriorated on Monday. He visited the hospital’s emergency room, where he spent several hours before being discharged. He became ill again on Wednesday evening, requiring him to be hospitalized for the third time.
De Souza said tests showed “his intestinal flora is completely messed up because of the amount of bacteria in his body.”
Her son, she explained, has had trouble eating and is limited to a diet of fruit and coconut water. Additionally, he has dropped from 99 to 95 pounds since he first got sick.
“Since he ate the gecko, he feels something every day: headache, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, fever, loss of appetite,” de Souza said.
According to infectious disease doctor Marcelo Daher, the curious boy’s well-being could have been compromised if the lizard was infected with parasites.
“The risk of getting a disease is very high,” he said. ‘There is a risk of sensitization by the animal’s own protein and a risk of a serious allergic reaction. You have to be very careful and cautious when eating some wild animals.”