Clients have been asking me for years why I don't eat raw seafood or meat. This exert is from CNN and sums up what a scientist found while working in a hospital lab after Japanese food started to become popular in the Melbourne.
Parasites
The growing popularity of sushi and other raw or undercooked fish and seafood dishes in Western countries has led to an increase in illness caused by anisakid nematodes (worms), according to a study published last year in BMJ Case Reports.
Anisakiasis results from eating fish or seafood contaminated with that parasite.
When the worms invade the stomach wall or intestines, the result is gastrointestinal pain, nausea and vomiting, according to the CDC. Some people develop complications, including digestive bleeding, bowel obstruction and peritonitis (an inflammation of the inner wall of the abdomen). Other people may experience an allergic reaction, including swelling, skin rash or even anaphylaxis, which can cause difficulty breathing and loss of consciousness.
Anisakiasis cannot be transmitted from one person to another and is most common in Japan, where sushi is king. Japan sees, roughly, 3,000 cases annually, according to the authors of the case study. However, in recent years, other parts of the globe have begun to see a rise in anisakiasis illness, according to the CDC, though the agency estimates that only a case or two are reported in the US each year.
Salmonella
Raw or undercooked fish may also harbor the most common food-poisoning bacteria, Salmonella, which causes about 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths in the US every year, according to the CDC. Food is the source of most of these illnesses. Although raw or undercooked fish is less likely to cause a salmonella infection than other foods, including chicken and beef, it still may carry these bacteria.
Symptoms of diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps usually develop within 72 hours after infection, and illness generally lasts four to seven days. Though most people recover from a salmonella infection without treatment, some patients experience such severe diarrhea that they need to be hospitalized.
To reduce the risk of illness caused by eating fish, the CDC recommends not eating raw or undercooked fish or squid. When broiling, boiling or cooking seafood, an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit (about 63 degrees Celsius) needs to be reached to kill anything dangerous lurking beneath the skin.
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