Travel Clinic

Parasites found

One of the pleasures of travel is the opportunity it affords to try new flavours, but we should also be aware of the dangers that come with them says Dr Jane Wilson-Howarth...

- Jane Wilson Howarth

WORM TURNED

I have written plenty about the risks of gastroenteritis from eating raw or lightly cooked fish and shellfish, but I wonder how many travellers are aware that such foods can also be a way to acquire interesting hitchhikers?

There certainly seems to be a spate of food parasite stories of late. The UK press recently picked up on an issue of the British Medical Journal highlighting that persisting abdominal pain may be caused by tiny fish parasites. This accompanied the story of a 32-year-old man in Portugal who had abdominal pain so severe that appendicitis was suspected until – using not surgery but an endoscope – doctors discovered a larval worm in the man’s intestine. It was detached and removed and he was cured immediately, while images of the invader went viral online.

Generally, Anisakis worms (the parasite in question) don’t make people particularly ill, but fish parasites aren’t the first thing a GP thinks about when a patient consults about belly ache or irritable bowels. This is often the problem when it comes to diagnosing rare and unusual illnesses, which is why it pays to know the risks of what you’re eating.

FANTASTIC BEASTIES & WHERE TO FIND THEM

Another kind of nematode worm can be taken in unknowingly if you eat raw, insufficiently cooked poultry, freshwater fish or frogs. This can give you a problem resplendent in the name gnathostomiasis.