Yes, I found that and grinded about 20 slimes early in the game and more later. To be honest, it's been a while since I've played. I don't remember everything. It could be that I preferred buying armor over consumables. I guess then it would be my fault that I had to be so worried about being infected, but I simply value general upgrades more than something I have to use up against a weak enemy (especially when that can be avoided with save scumming). Unless I am mistaken my first reaction when fighting one of the ghouls was surprise at how much damage they dealt. Not that that's bad, but it would explain why I wanted armor so desperately, especially with multiple (mini-)bosses on that mountain.
But decreasing the frequency of the bite attack early on would probably help. Of course, there's the possibility of it having the opposite effect in a few cases. Some players might end up using most of their holy water on the way up the mountain because it feels like a rarer occurrence, and then they have less for the bosses.