Check your food properly before you eat them, everyone! Undercooked or raw food have the potential to harbour diseases and parasites which you definitely do not want to ingest into your body.
A recent report by Straits Times stated that a man discovered that he was growing a 2.8m-long tapeworm in his body and he had absolutely no idea. He did not show any symptoms at all that a parasite was in his body and only realised when he passed it out. Yuck!
Source: Straits Times
In an image captured by the Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) Department of Microbiology, the worm was at least one and a half times the patient’s height. Infectious diseases expert Hsu Li Yang said that the incident happened in 2016, as the man had contracted the tapeworm after eating raw or undercooked seafood.
“The patient was somewhat appalled when the worm was passed out via the rectum. The question is what tapeworm it was, which will also help answer how the patient had acquired the worm,” he added. No other human parasite is able to grow to such a length except for tapeworms.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Steady Health
SGH’s Department of Microbiology said that the 2.8m tapeworm most probably came from raw or undercooked freshwater fish, after closer examination. It isn’t easy to detect parasite cysts in fish flesh using the naked eye and usually only experienced sushi chefs and fish suppliers are able to do so.
For illustration purposes only | Source: At Bangkok
However, doctors said that there is no need to worry about consuming sashimi even as we place raw seafood in some of our yee sang as Chinese New Year rolls around. Dr Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious diseases physician at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital said, “The risk of catching something from eating raw food is extremely low in Singapore. But be extremely religious about cleanliness and don’t eat raw fish if your immunity is poor.”
Earlier in January, a 30-year-old man in United States had contracted a 1.6m-long tapeworm as he had the habit of eating salmon sashimi almost everyday. He had thought that his guts were coming out as he found the tapeworm hanging from his rear end and he had to continuously pull at it to get it out. It was still alive and moving after he extracted it. OMG!
Just remember to be vigilant and safe when consuming these types of raw food!
Also read: Health Officials Warn Public As Salmons Found Infected With Japanese Broad Tapeworms
