Summer is coming, and many people like to eat raw pickles, such as drunken shrimp and drunken crabs, as well as aquatic plants, such as water chestnuts, water chestnuts, callus white, lotus roots, water celery, etc. Although these foods are delicious, they can be infected with parasites if eaten incorrectly.
In this article, Mr. Gu has compiled 7 foods that are prone to parasites, so we have to be careful while enjoying the food.
1. 7 types of foods that are prone to parasites
1. Aquatic plants such as water chestnut, water chestnut, callus white, lotus root, water celery
▲ Figure: water chestnut
▲图:荸荠
▲ Picture: Coconut white
▲ Picture: lotus root
▲Figure: Water celery (e-commerce platform)
Water chestnut, water chestnut, water chestnut, lotus root, water celery and other aquatic plants, in the process of planting, if the animal manure that has not been harmless treatment is fertilized, or if animal feces are discharged into the pond, these plants may be contaminated with fasciola (Fasciola brucei).
After eating raw to infected people, it can seriously cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, facial and body edema, malabsorption, malnutrition and other problems. [1]
Therefore, these foods must be cooked and eaten.
2. Pork, beef and mutton
When grilling or shabu-shabu, pork, beef and mutton may not be cooked.
Pork tapeworms may be found in undercooked pork, beef and mutton, and after a person eats raw meat with pork tapeworm eggs, the eggs can develop into larvae and then adults in the human intestine.
The symptoms caused by adult worms are not serious, and they compete with people in the digestive tract for nutrients in food, and may also cause nausea, loss of appetite, and diarrhea.
The larvae are more harmful, which can penetrate the intestinal wall and run to the muscles, brain, eyes, heart and other places with blood circulation to form cysts, which can then cause headaches, dizziness, visual impairment and even blindness. [2，3]
In addition, if you travel to Dali, Yunnan Province and dine at a Bai farmhouse, you can don't order dishes such as "chopped raw", "raw hide", and "oh", which are all raw pork products and have a high risk of contracting pork tapeworms.
3. Drunken crab and drunken shrimp
Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have a tradition of eating drunk crabs and shrimps, but it is not recommended that you try them, because drunk shrimp and drunk crabs are easy to contain lung flukes (paragonimus wester).
Most people infected with lung flukes have no symptoms, while others have fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and cough.
In September 2020, a family of three in Shenzhen developed symptoms of mild fever, abdominal pain, decreased appetite, and dry cough a month after eating drunk crabs, but fortunately they were discharged from the hospital after active treatment.
Long-term infection may lead to fibrosis of the lungs and may also induce meningitis, causing epilepsy, visual disturbances, and motor and sensory nerve damage. [4]
4. Fushou snail
As early as the summer of 2006, 130 people in Beijing were infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis after eating undercooked snails. Symptoms of Angiostrongyloides infection include headache, neck rigidity, meningitis, and in severe cases, death, and individual larvae also invade the eyes, nose and lungs. [5]
In addition to being parasitic in Fushou snails, the larvae can also survive in fish, shrimp, crabs, and frogs, so these foods should not be eaten raw.
5. Freshwater fish such as grass carp, bighead carp, and rainbow trout
▲Picture: grass carp
▲ Picture: bighead carp
▲ Picture: Rainbow trout
There is a habit of eating raw grass carp in Shunde, Guangdong, which is not worth recommending, because freshwater fish such as grass carp, bighead carp, rainbow trout may contain liver flukes (Clonorchis sinensis), after eating raw and infecting people, it will cause loss of appetite, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, and severe liver damage, jaundice, hepatomegaly, and liver cirrhosis. [6]
▲Figure shows Chinese liver fluke under the microscope
(Source: Dr Wong Sai-yin, Assistant Professor (Clinical), Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong)
Studies have shown that raw freshwater fish fillets play a decisive role in the transmission of liver flukes in Guangxi and Guangdong, with 92% of liver fluke infections attributable to raw freshwater fish [7].
So to avoid this parasite infection, don't eat raw freshwater fish is the key.
6. Salmon
▲ Picture: Salmon
Back in 2016, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that a woman in Japan who had eaten raw salmon began to have chest and abdominal pain 2 hours later, and when examined, multiple Anisakis larvae were burrowing into her stomach mucosa.
Salmon can contain parasites such as anisakis if the sea area where salmon is farmed is contaminated or if the feed contains parasites.
However, salmon from regular sources will be frozen in a regulated manner (-20°C or below for seven days; or frozen at -35°C for about 20 hours) [8], safety is still guaranteed, but the elderly, children, pregnant women, and people with low immunity are best not to eat raw.
In addition, if you eat salmon raw in an unreliable restaurant, you may also eat rainbow trout, a freshwater fish that looks like salmon, and as mentioned earlier, it may contain liver flukes.
2. How to avoid parasitic infections
Marinating with wine, salt or soy sauce, cold smoking, dipped in mustard and vinegar cannot kill parasites, and thoroughly cooking is the most effective way to kill parasites.
Therefore, drunk shrimp and drunk crab should not be eaten, other foods such as aquatic plants must be cooked and eaten, generally steamed and stewed will be cooked, mainly when eating hot pot, shabu until the meat loses its blood color, hairy belly at least has to be boiled in water seven up and eight times, and then there are skewers when they are children, they must be grilled until the center of the meat loses its blood color.
In order to avoid parasite infection, the following 8 things should be done:
1. Do not drink spring water, well water and other raw water outdoors. It must be boiled for more than 1 minute to ensure that the parasite is killed.
2. Vegetables and fruits should be cleaned before eating raw, and peeled those that can be peeled. This is because parasites can attach to the surface of vegetables and fruits, and it is important to pay attention to the vegetables and fruits picked at the farmhouse, because the farm fertilizer applied by farmers is basically not harmless.
3. Try not to eat at stalls. In particular, eat less meat to avoid getting parasites from undercooked.
4. Wash your hands before handling food. People with low immunity are advised to wear clean latex gloves when handling raw meat; In addition, it is necessary to separate raw and cooked, that is, the cutting board and knives for cutting cooked food and raw food should be separated; After processing raw meat, it is necessary to thoroughly wash hands, cutting boards, knives, and other ingredients.
5. Wash your hands well before and after eating, after playing with soil, and often trim your nails, and educate your children not to bite their nails or suck their fingers. This is because the eggs of some parasites hide in the stool and can easily infect people through the oral and fecal routes.
Many children do not pay attention to hygiene and are prone to pinworms, pinworms will crawl to the anus at night to lay eggs, so the anus will itch badly at night, especially affecting sleep, mental state, easy insomnia, restlessness, pinworms will also absorb nutrients in the human intestines, so it may cause nutritional deficiencies in children.
6. Do not touch your mouth with your hands after playing with cats or cleaning up cat litter, and wash your hands in time to avoid infection with Toxoplasma gondii.
7. When taking children to the field to plant vegetables or pick, be sure to wear good shoes, because the eggs of hookworms can hatch into larvae in the soil, and then they can penetrate the skin to infect people.
8. Do not swallow water when swimming outdoors.
Today's interaction: Do you have any friends around you who have been infected with parasites, share them to warn everyone.
Bibliography:
[1] Daniel Zhang, Yang Zuonan, Jiang Ning. Clinical symptoms and gastroscopic manifestations in 24 patients with early ginger fascioliasis infection[J]. Chinese Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2009(8):2.
[2] https://www.mayoclinic.org/zh-hans/diseases-conditions/tapeworm/symptoms-causes/syc-20378174
[3] Industry standard diagnostic criteria for cysticercosis in pigs.http://www.nhc.gov.cn/wjw/zcjd/201304/6fbf1f0ce07a4c67a658959aec818717.shtml
[4] https://www.cdc.gov.tw/Category/Page/6K2gpiyFEibb73qbe7peLw
[5] http://cdcp.gd.gov.cn/jkjy/pxjl/content/post_3442067.html
[6] http://cdcp.gd.gov.cn/jkjy/jkzt/jscbfz/content/post_3439516.html
[7] Qian Menbao. Study on the causal mechanism and intervention strategy of clonorchiasis transmission behavior[D].Beijing:Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention,2019.
[8] https://www.cfs.gov.hk/tc_chi/multimedia/multimedia_pub/multimedia_pub_fsf_123_01.html