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

Do Tapeworm Pictures Reveal Parasite or 1920s Diet Aid?

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).