Man gets dysentery for $7,000

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Twenty-six-year-old Jake Eberts agreed to drink a life-threatening concoction of a cloudy, salty liquid containing Shigella bacteria, which are usually found in the “poop” of people who are infected — all in the name of science.

He downed a shot-glass amount of the liquid, knowing it would produce a miserable case of dysentery for the sake of research, he told Insider.

Eberts was one of 16 healthy young adults participating in the 11-day inpatient trial at the University of Maryland in an attempt to test the effectiveness of a Shigella vaccine and received a payday in exchange.

Eberts said the symptoms from the trial resulted in the “worst eight hours of my life” — but would do it all again, if he was paid. For this trial, the university said he earned more than $7,000.

Sickness from Shigella is often caused by drinking contaminated water, eating ill-prepared food or coming in contact with someone’s infected bowel movements.

Unfortunately for him, he ended up having one of the worst cases of dysentery.

His symptoms started about 40 hours after drinking the bacteria, complete with cramps and chills at first. Then, he quickly took a turn for the worst. He had a 103-degree fever, diarrhea and bloody stool.

Eberts had to relieve himself in the toilet hat, place it in a biohazard bag and carry it down the hall to researchers who would extract samples from it. Once the nurses took what they needed for the study, he would pour the rest of his bodily waste into the toilet and douse it with bleach, waiting five minutes before flushing away.

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