There are bad home remedies, and then there’s this one. An 82-year-old woman in Hangzhou, China, recently swallowed eight live frogs to cure her back pain. The decision landed her in the hospital, and her freakish story went viral…for obvious reasons.
The woman, identified only as Ms. Zhang, reportedly suffered from a herniated disc that caused persistent lower back pain. Instead of reaching for painkillers, she turned to folklore. Local media, reported by The Telegraph, said she’d heard that eating live frogs could relieve muscle and joint aches. Without explaining why, she asked her family to catch several small frogs for her. They assumed it was for cooking. It wasn’t.
Zhang swallowed three frogs one day and five the next. Within days, her stomach began to ache so badly she couldn’t walk. Her family rushed her to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, where doctors were shocked to learn about her unusual diet. Tests revealed she had developed a parasitic infection, including sparganum—a tapeworm commonly found in amphibians and reptiles, according to hospital physician Wu Zhongwen.
“Swallowing live frogs damaged the patient’s digestive system and allowed parasites to enter her body,” Wu told reporters. Zhang spent two weeks receiving treatment before she was finally discharged.
This Woman Swallowed Eight Live Frogs To Cure Her Back Pain. Did It Work?
Doctors said Zhang isn’t the first to take folklore literally. Wu Zhongwen, the physician who treated her, has seen it all—people gulping down snakes, sipping raw fish gall, even taping frog skin to their own bodies. “Most are elderly,” he said. “They keep these remedies quiet until they’re too sick to hide it.”
Chinese media have reported several comparable cases in recent years. In 2018, a woman who ate five live frogs for rheumatism ended up with a massive tapeworm removed from her breast. In 2021, a man developed a serious infection after consuming frogs to “gain strength” following a bone fracture.
While frogs do contain compounds used in some traditional medicines, scientists have long warned that eating live amphibians offers no proven health benefits. What it does offer, as Ms. Zhang learned firsthand, is a direct line to the emergency room.
She eventually recovered, but doctors hope her story sticks—unlike the frogs.
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