9-Foot Tapeworm Symptoms Not Linked to Shaw's Crab House, Spokesman Reveals

When Anthony Franz ordered a supposedly healthy salmon salad at the Chicago Shaw's Crab House in 2006, he was unawares that a scant two years later he would file suit over a 9-foot tapeworm that would develop and grow in his gastrointestinal tract. Fortunate enough to excrete the 9-foot tapeworm, a lab later identified the parasite as having come from a fish that may have been undercooked, the Chicago Sun Times reports.

Not so fast, the company that owns Shaw's Crab House now asserts, claiming that there is no proof that the nine foot tapeworm originated from their particular salmon salad or restaurant. Sure, Mr. Franz only filed suit for $100,000, but can he prove that the 9-foot tapeworm did not come from a different restaurant or a piece of fish he himself may have failed to properly cook?

Then again, how can Carrol Symank, spokesman for the Crab House, so definitively state that an investigation done on their part revealed the tapeworm did not come from their venue? Is there still some of that salmon left to linger in a freezer, some two years after the unhappy event? Are there records kept of foods served at proper and improper temperatures?

As the classic he said-they said tapeworm caper continues on, there are some questions that plague the discerning restaurant guest who knew more than her fair share of individuals who would pull the old "waiter, there's a fly in my soup" stunt when it suited:

Mr. Franz alleges that he became severely ill after eating the salad and later excreted the nine foot tapeworm. On the other hand, tapeworm symptoms are generally much less serious. There is some abdominal bloating and diarrhea, maybe even cramping, but nothing very serious. Furthermore, the only way that a nine foot tapeworm could have invaded Mr. Franz' intestines - according to the CDC -- is via a larva present in the salmon salad; after all, it is highly unlikely that he would voluntarily ingest a wriggly nine foot mass (unless, of course, he was a contestant on Fear Factor).

I don't know much about the growth of the average tapeworm, but according to a study published by the Academisch Medisch Centrum/Universiteit van Amsterdam, a six inch tapeworm was recovered in the feces of a Dutch man who ingested raw fish some five months prior in a different locale. Treatment with praziquantel returned the man's gastrointestinal tract to normal. Thus, if said tapeworm grew to about six inches in about five months, it is somewhat hard to follow how 108 inches (nine feet) of parasitic growth could result in a few short days.

There obviously is no proof that this is like the Wendy's finger lawsuit which saw Anna Ayala sue the restaurant chain for finding a finger in her food - a finger she, herself, planted. On the other hand, while the 9 foot tapeworm lawsuit may not compare to the frivolous Wendy's suit, it contrasts nicely with a 1920s weight loss cure that advertised to eat and eat, and never gain weight...with the help of sanitized tapeworms. Yum!

Perhaps Shaw's Crab House should counter sue for the free of charge use of a 1920s weight loss remedy.

Sources:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1114396,CST-NWS-shaws19.article
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/13/1/169.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16285364?dopt=Abstract
http://www.lawsuit.no/wendys.html
http://donklephant.com/2008/07/20/eat-eat-eat-always-stay-thin-with-tape-worms/