A Chinese woman died and her husband fell ill from animal toxins after eating boiled toads to cure themselves from liver cirrhosis and cancer.
Toads have also long been used in traditional Chinese medicines as the amphibians lives in cool, damp places and is believed that ingredients from them can reduce body heat, remove toxins and kill cancer tumors, reported the Shanghai Daily.
According to health officials, the woman from Hongkou District here suffered from liver cirrhosis, and was weak while her husband is a cancer patient.
They added that the couple asked their son to bring live toads from Rudong County of neighboring Jiangsu Province as they believed that toad soup could treat the diseases.
The couple boiled the toads and ate the soup on Wednesday. morning and had to be to a hospital by afternoon when symptoms of poisoning began to appear.
The woman died at evening in the hospital while husband was reported to be stable.
"This was the first time that a person has died from eating toads in Shanghai in recent years," said Gu Zhenhua, Vice Director of Shanghai Food and Drug Administration.
Gu warned the public against making their own toad remedies, instead advising them to follow the advice of doctors.
