Personal Injury Law

Eat raw fish ... Get a 9-foot tapeworm

By Dr. Doug Powell

Amy didn't feel too good last night.  She thought maybe it was the damn-near raw tuna on her salad the other afternoon when we ventured to our nearest patio for some Sunday relaxation.

Probably not. But raw is not without its risks.

One summer day in August 2006, Anthony Franz went to a Chicago area hospital carrying a 9-foot worm.

He did not find it in his garden.

Franz is one of the few, but growing number of tapeworm victims in cities across the world who are discovering (or rediscovering) that some of the most popular fish can host parasites.

Although still rare, a study this June showed salmon tapeworm infestations tripled from an average of 0.32 cases per 100,000 people each year in Kyoto, Japan, to at least to 1 case in 100,000 people in 2008. As more people adopt sushi and undercooked fish diets around the world so too, has the worm spread. …

"Parasites are really a non-issue, it's not as big of a problem as time and temperature holding," said Pamela Tom, Seafood Network Information Center Director at the University of California, Davis. "People focus on methyl mercury, but in reality it's not as important as the bacteria."

Full post as published by BarfBlog on June 17, 2009 (boomark / email).