It is usually recommended to eat water chestnuts peeled and cooked as much as possible, as raw water chestnuts tend to increase the risk of contracting gingerbread worms. Water chestnuts grow in mud and swamps, so the surface is easily contaminated by bacteria and parasites, especially the ginger slice worm, which can easily parasitize the surface of water chestnuts. If ginger flake trematode cysts are accidentally ingested, they may hatch into larvae in the human body, which can lead to a series of symptoms and affect human health. The cysts, larvae or adults of S. gingivalis can be killed by high temperature heating, so it is safer to consume water chestnuts that have been cooked at high temperatures. It is recommended that water chestnuts be cooked in boiling water for 10-20 minutes before consumption. If water chestnuts must be eaten raw, they should be washed thoroughly and peeled before consumption. When a person is infected with water chestnut cysts through eating, there is an incubation period of 1-3 months in the body, during which time there may be no obvious symptoms. As the cysts develop into adult worms and attach themselves to the intestinal mucosa, symptoms gradually appear. Mildly infected people may have no symptoms or mild symptoms. Moderately or severely infected people may have gastrointestinal symptoms such as loss of appetite, intermittent diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, etc., among which abdominal pain is the most obvious symptom, and abdominal pain is mostly located in the upper abdomen and the lower part of the right quarter ribs, and a small portion of the people show pain around the umbilicus. Abdominal pain in the morning on an empty stomach or after meals will be more obvious, the degree will also be more intense. In a few patients, prolonged diarrhea can lead to depression, emaciation, anemia, and malnutrition, while severe malnutrition can lead to edema and ascites. Severe and advanced patients can be life-threatening due to secondary lung infections, intestinal bacterial infections, and so on. A small number of patients may gather into clusters due to the large number of worms, triggering intestinal obstruction. In addition to the possibility of contracting ginger bugs, eating raw water chestnuts may also increase the risk of gastrointestinal discomfort due to residual bacteria on the surface. If you have recently consumed large quantities of raw water chestnuts and experience unexplained abdominal pain, diarrhea, and gradual weight loss, you should seek medical attention to detect the presence of parasites in your body. Infection with gingerbread can be treated with praziquantel as the first choice, or you can take medications such as thiocolchicol, or betel nut decoction, which should be taken under the direction of a doctor. During the treatment period, easy-to-digest food should be eaten to avoid continued irritation of the intestinal tract, and attention should be paid to hygiene to help the body recover gradually.