Two older men died after eating a grilled toad found in the rain on Sunday while a third man and two children also became sick from contact with the same dead toad.
The toad-eating happened in Nan’s Thung Chang neighborhood. This morning, health officials went to the house where it happened to collect the rest of the toad meat to examine it for clues.
Grilled toad is a common snack in the countryside. It’s not as common as eating rats and lizards, but it does happen. Most toads are not safe to eat. Many have deadly poison glands. These men picked the wrong type of toad to eat.
Assistant village headman Yod Siangkong, explained that a 70-year-old village man cooked a large toad he found in the weekend’s rain. After grilling the large amphibian, he invited another older man and a neighbor, 45, to eat the toad and drink liquor with him.
An hour after ingesting the wild toad, the man who cooked it was having trouble breathing, he threw up and lost unconsciousness before and he died. The same reactions were noted in the other older man, who later died at Thung Chang Hospital, reported Bangkok Post.
The younger man only ate a small piece of toad and some of its eggs. He also suffered from vomiting and had a stomach ache all night.
Two small children, 4 and 5-years-old, became sick after eating chicken cooked on the same grill as the toad. Health officials believe that the chicken and grill came into contact with the toad’s poison gland. The children were treated at Thung Chang Hospital.
Dr. Nipon Pattanakijruang, Nan public health chief, noted that there are usually poison in the glands, eggs, intestines and blood of certain types of toad. He also said that these poisons are not not removed by high heat.
If someone eats toad meat, they should try to vomit and go to the nearest hospital. The toad’s poison is its natural defense to keep predators from eating them.
