Doctor reminds: Artificial breeding is also toxic. A Pudong man was poisoned after eating puffer fish at home
Su Shi, a famous writer in the Northern Song Dynasty and also a gourmet, once said: When the reeds on the ground are full of reeds and the reed buds are short, it is the time when puffer fish are about to come. In spring, pufferfish is tender and plump. It can be said that "once you eat pufferfish meat, you will never miss any fish in the world." However, although puffer fish is delicious, it must be eaten correctly and with caution.
Recently, the Pudong New Area People's Hospital received a middle-aged male patient, Mr. Wang, from the emergency department. He reported that his lips and tongue were numb after meals, his hands and feet were also numb, and he was unable to walk, accompanied by symptoms such as dizziness and chest tightness. After further questioning, it was learned that the patient ate pufferfish cooked by himself with his friends a few hours before admission, and then developed these symptoms. He himself also considered that he might have been poisoned by eating pufferfish, and was afraid of an accident, so he hurried to the hospital emergency room for treatment.
After obtaining the relevant information, the doctor combined with the auxiliary examination and considered puffer fish poisoning, and immediately gave him gastric lavage, hydration and other treatments. He was then admitted to the intensive care unit for close observation. Fortunately, after timely treatment, Mr. Wang was out of danger and has been discharged from the hospital for follow-up.
According to the information provided by Mr. Wang, he and two friends ate artificially bred puffer fish, commonly known as "ba fish" that day. The two friends only ate part of the fish and had no obvious symptoms of discomfort after the meal. However, Mr. Wang not only ate the fish, but also the liver of the fish, and finally developed numbness in his limbs and chest tightness.
Yuan Ye, a physician in the Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, said that pufferfish is poisonous because it contains a toxic substance called "tetrodotoxin" in the body, which is mainly found in the pufferfish's liver and ovaries. A small amount is also contained in pufferfish's muscles and blood. toxin. Moreover, the toxins in pufferfish vary with the seasons, with the strongest toxicity in spring. There are more than 30 species of puffer fish in my country, the common ones include red-finned dolphins, dark-striped dolphins, etc. The puffer fish currently farmed artificially are immature puffer fish, called "bayu", which is the species that Mr. Wang and his friends eat.
Why does eating artificially bred puffer fish also cause symptoms of poisoning? "Although the toxicity of artificially cultured pufferfish will be weakened due to changes in the food chain, and is dozens of times lower than that of wild ones, it is considered low toxicity. However, its eggs and liver are still highly toxic, so eating farmed pufferfish, especially its internal organs, will There is still a risk of poisoning. "Yuan Ye said that if Mr. Wang had eaten wild puffer fish, the consequences would have been disastrous.
It is reported that there is currently no specific antidote for tetrodotoxin, and clinical treatment mainly relies on symptomatic treatment. Therefore, if you feel unwell after eating pufferfish, you need to induce vomiting immediately to help yourself, go to the hospital promptly, and inform the doctor in detail about your pufferfish eating history so that the doctor can carry out timely symptomatic treatment. "Finally, citizens are reminded again that if they still want to enjoy delicious pufferfish, they must not only choose a qualified catering company, but also remember not to eat ovaries and liver, so as to enjoy pufferfish without being poisoned."
