The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated in their report:
Due to the increasing prevalence of global import/export trade and the trend of eating raw fish, the Japanese broad tapeworm has re-emerged in the world. We have found the Japanese broad tapeworm in the pink muscle tissue of wild salmon from Alaska. Therefore, salmon from places like the United States and the Asia-Pacific coast can pose a danger to consumers when eaten raw.
So, what kind of danger are we discussing here? Experts say that humans actually know very little about this tapeworm variant, only that it is a close relative of the broad tapeworm, and that infected individuals show similar diseases and symptoms.
In almost all cases, the symptoms in infected individuals are very minor or difficult to detect. When this worm grows to 9.1 meters long inside your body, the symptoms you might experience include abdominal discomfort, nausea, diarrhea, and slight weight loss.
In extremely severe but rare cases, infected individuals may suffer from intestinal obstruction, seriously affecting the lives of the patient and their family. The large adult parasite can also deplete many vitamin B12 in the infected person's body, leading to neurological disorders.
The good news is that it can be treated with special medication once diagnosed. Unfortunately, you must first find some of the parasite in your stool and send it to a laboratory for testing.
Famous doctors say that the probability of parasites in raw salmon is very small, but everyone should still be careful.
If you want to be cautious and think that freezing it in the refrigerator can kill the parasites, sushi lovers will tell you that it's very disgusting.
What other foods contain parasites?
Snails -- Angiostrongyliasis
The larvae of angiostrongylus develop in certain terrestrial or aquatic snails for a long time. Some people, in their greed for a fresh and tender taste, only blanch them in boiling water before eating. If a person eats raw or undercooked snail meat, they can become infected with angiostrongylus.
Once infected with angiostrongylus, it will travel inside the human body, drill into the brain, and the lesions will be concentrated in brain tissue. Besides the brain and meninges, this also includes the cerebellum, brainstem, and spinal cord. In mild cases, the clinical symptoms are headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. In severe cases, shock, mania, and even death can occur. Patients develop eosinophilic meningoencephalitis or meningitis, characterized by a significant increase in eosinophils in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Water chestnuts -- Fasciolopsiasis
Autumn is the season for picking water chestnuts and water caltrops. They are fresh and tender when first picked, and people can't resist eating them. This is when there is a high chance of being infected with fasciolopsis, a parasite that lives on water chestnuts and water caltrops. Fasciolopsis resides in the human small intestine and can cause digestive and systemic symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea. In severe cases, it can lead to anemia, edema, and growth retardation.
Expert reminder: Try not to eat raw water chestnuts, water caltrops, or lotus roots. Do not bite the skin with your teeth. When eating them raw, be sure to wash them thoroughly, blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes, or sun-dry them for a day before consumption. Pay attention to hygiene, do not drink untreated water, and wash your hands after coming into contact with aquatic plants or sewage to prevent contamination with metacercariae.
Crayfish -- Paragonimiasis
Crayfish are commonly found in the rivers and lakes of the south, and even in paddy fields, streams, and dirty water. Due to their extremely strong reproductive ability, they are very easy to catch. In recent years, spicy crayfish have become popular all over the country, and some places have even opened restaurants specializing in crayfish. However, because crayfish live in poor-quality water, many of them are parasitized with lung flukes.
If a person eats raw or undercooked crayfish, they are highly likely to become infected with this parasite, leading to paragonimiasis. The lung fluke mainly resides in the human lungs. In mild cases, it can manifest as cough, chest pain, and hemoptysis. In severe cases, it can cause massive pulmonary hemorrhage, organ obstruction, and lead to death. Once, three people in Beijing suffered from "acute skeletal muscle dissolution" after eating crayfish and were in danger of their lives.
Expert reminder: Before eating, remove the vein on the back of the crayfish. It must be cooked thoroughly. When eating, it is best not to eat the head of the crayfish.
Sea fish
A wide variety of saltwater fish are infected with anisakis, including edible fish such as salmon, chum salmon, tuna, sea bass, cod, hairtail, conger eel, grouper, herring, and red sea bream.
In addition, squid, which is not a fish, is also one of the hosts for anisakis. Inside the sea fish, the anisakis develops into an infectious third-stage larva, and then enters the digestive system of marine mammals through the process of being eaten by the sea fish. Compared to marine mammals, the final host, humans are not the ideal environment for anisakis because the third-stage larvae cannot develop into adults in the human body. However, they can still cause harm to human health.
Sprouts
Sprouts are traditional indoor-grown vegetables. Because they are nutritious, crisp, and delicious, they are very popular. However, the environment in which sprouts grow is most conducive to the proliferation of harmful bacteria. If the raw materials and equipment for sprout production are not disinfected strictly, a large number of harmful bacteria can breed.
Steak with blood
Steak is most common in Western restaurants, and more and more people like to eat it medium-rare or even rare, with even streaks of blood visible when cut with a knife. People who love raw steak often believe that such a steak is "chewy" and has a "beefy" flavor. What they don't realize is that this "fashionable" "bloodthirsty" eating habit also carries the risk of parasitic diseases.