Quantcast

Sushi, sashimi and worms, oh my!

The raw seafood used in foods such as sushi and sashimi may contain parasitic worms that can cause relatively mild to severe infections in humans. Anisakis simplex is the most likely offender when it comes to parasitic infections from these now common foods.

Sushi public domain image/Luke via wikimedia commons

Sushi public domain image/Luke via wikimedia commons

Anisakis is a marine roundworm that can be found in over 200 species of fish, eel and octopus. When you eat raw seafood contaminated with this roundworm, you are ingesting live larval forms of the parasite.

From as soon as 1 hour to 2 weeks after eating the sushi, the symptoms may begin. The worms typically attached themselves to the stomach where vomiting and abdominal pain will ensue. More severe symptoms may be abdominal pains resembling appendicitis and rarely bowel obstructions.

Typically, in this country, people discover they have this parasite when they feel a tickling sensation in the throat and actually cough up the worm.

This parasite rarely achieves maturity in the human host and eventually dies in a few weeks. The dead worms however stimulate an inflammatory response, which can cause allergic type symptoms.

There is no antibiotic or other pill to take for treating Anisakis. Removing the worm surgically may be the only way to alleviate pain in very severe cases.

The good news is that this food borne illness is quite rare in the United States with only approximately 10 cases reported annually, although it is speculated that many mild cases are not reported.

How do you prevent getting this potentially painful parasite? The Food and Drug Administration recommends that all seafood intended for raw consumption be either blast frozen (-35ºC) for at least 15 hours or regularly frozen for 7 days which will kill the parasite. Go to reputable restaurants that surely follow these health and safety guidelines. Don’t prepare your own sushi from fish you caught yourself.

This disease should be considered if you‘ve had recently eaten sushi or sashimi and have symptoms of an allergic reaction with abdominal pain.

 

For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page

Looking for a job in health care? Check here to see what’s available

On the DISPATCH: Headlines  Local  Opinion

Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd ) [ALL INFO CONFIDENTIAL]

About the Author

- Writer, Co-Founder and Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch. Robert has been covering news in the areas of health, world news and politics for a variety of online news sources. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the website, Outbreak News Today and hosts the podcast, Outbreak News Interviews on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify Robert is politically Independent and a born again Christian Follow @bactiman63

Displaying 5 Comments
Have Your Say
  1. Ontario: Mycobacterium marinum cluster linked to handling shrimp | Outbreak News Today says:

    […] Sushi, sashimi and worms, oh my!  […]

  2. Sushi linked to Salmonella paratyphi cluster in New Mexico | Outbreak News Today says:

    […] Related: Sushi, sashimi and worms, oh my! […]

  3. Sushi linked to California Salmonella paratyphi outbreak | Outbreak News Today says:

    […] Related: Sushi, sashimi and worms, oh my! […]

  4. Chinese man’s body peppered with parasites, is it Diphyllobothriasis? | Outbreak News Today says:

    […] Related: Sushi, sashimi and worms, oh my! […]

  5. CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON says:

    AMERICANS LOVE MEXICAN FOOD, GREEK FOOD, ETC. A PART OF THE “melting-pot ideal” IS FOR NATIVE-BORN AMERICANS TO PARTAKE OF FOREIGN CULTURAL-EXPERIENCES TRANSPORTED TO AMERICA BY IMMIGRANTS.

    Robert Herriman TYPES, “Don’t prepare your own sushi from fish you caught yourself.” AND, “Go to reputable restaurants … ” WELL, Mr. Herriman, BEING FROM MISSISSIPPI I WAS RAISED ON SELF-CAUGHT FISH – I HAVE NOT “GOTTEN” SICK, YET. FURTHERMORE, Mr. Herriman, IT WOULD BE FOLLY FOR DINERS TO BASE THEIR SAFETY ON THE PRE-PREPARATORY RECOMMENDATIONS OF Food and Drug Administration. [Look at all of the recent food-recalls in the news; that says a lot about the expertise of FDA].

    ORIENTAL CUISINE IS VALUED BY NATIVES IN THEIR HOMELAND. WHEN TRANSPORTED TO AMERICA, IT IS CONSIDERED AN EXOTIC TREAT. Mr. Herriman, YOU EVEN TYPED THE RISKS ARE MINIMAL – SO, I THINK AMERICAN-ORIENTAL RESTAURANTEURS DO NOT APPRECIATE AMERICA’S ATTEMPT TO SCARE-AWAY THEIR CUSTOMERS BECAUSE OF HEALTH CONCERNS WHICH ARE ONLY IMPORTANT TO A FEW.

    CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these html tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

like_us_on_facebook

 

The Global Dispatch Facebook page- click here

Movie News Facebook page - click here

Television News Facebook page - click here

Weird News Facebook page - click here 

DISPATCH RADIO

dispatch_radio

THE BRANDON JONES SHOW

brandon_jones_show-logo

Archives