Although seafood is delicious, you need to be careful when eating it

Author: Ma Shicheng, attending physician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Liu Shuang Attending Physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Reviewer: Zhu Huadong, Chief Physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

In autumn, a lot of seafood is available. Although seafood is delicious, improper consumption may lead to illness.

What should we pay attention to when handling and eating seafood?

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1. Wear gloves when handling seafood

Seawater is salty, but it is not sterile. If the bacteria on the surface of seafood enter the human body through the wound, it can cause infection. If the bacteria is Vibrio vulnificus, it may even lead to amputation or life-threatening. Therefore, you must wear gloves when handling seafood, and be especially careful when there is a wound. If you are accidentally stabbed, rinse the wound with clean water first, and use 75% alcohol or povidone iodine to disinfect (you can wipe or soak) for at least 3 minutes to kill the bacteria. If the wound is red and has blisters, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible.

2. Cutting boards for processing seafood need to be separated for raw and cooked food

The pathogens on some seafood can survive in the environment for a long time. After handling seafood, be sure to clean and disinfect it, otherwise it will easily contaminate other foods and cause disease.

3. Heat seafood thoroughly

Some people say that raw pickling is the greatest respect for seafood, but raw pickling is a huge challenge to the body. There are various pathogens and parasites in seafood. The cooking wine and white wine used in raw pickling are not enough to kill all pathogens. If it is not heated sufficiently, it may also cause infection. Mild cases may cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fever, and severe cases may be life-threatening. Some parasites can survive in the human body for more than ten years or even decades, and it may be too late when they are discovered. So, remember to heat seafood thoroughly!

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Generally speaking, the most common symptom after eating improperly cooked seafood is diarrhea. What should you do if you have diarrhea?

First of all, we need to understand the harm of diarrhea. On the one hand, if the amount of diarrhea is large, it may cause dehydration, which may then cause a series of life-threatening problems. For example, blood concentration after a large amount of dehydration may cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and a large amount of dehydration may lead to insufficient blood volume, thereby causing shock. On the other hand, diarrhea may cause the loss of important elements in the body-electrolytes, such as potassium, sodium, and chloride. Severe hypokalemia and hyponatremia may be life-threatening. In addition, if the cause of diarrhea is not corrected in time, the consequences vary. Diarrhea after eating seafood also requires vigilance against the possibility of infectious diseases. Therefore, if diarrhea occurs after eating seafood, or even symptoms such as fever occur, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible. The following preparations can be made before seeing a doctor.

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1. Leave your poop behind

If possible, take a photo as a souvenir, because without professional training, it may be difficult for you to identify mucus, pus, blood, tarry stool, and mushy stool, so take a photo and give it to the doctor. Sometimes there may be some normal stool left after the first bowel movement. At this time, please refer to the abnormal stool.

If possible, please defecate in the hospital and leave a sample. Don't worry that your watery stool cannot be tested. We have small bottles for watery stool. If you suddenly want to defecate while waiting for the doctor, you can leave a sample first.

2. Drink fluids as soon as diarrhea occurs!

The most important thing is to avoid dehydration caused by a lot of diarrhea. If there is no severe vomiting, you need to replenish water orally, preferably with electrolyte solutions, such as oral rehydration salts; the amount of water replenished should be at least more than the amount of bowel movements. If you feel uncomfortable after drinking a lot of water, you can drink water in small amounts and multiple times.

Finally, I still want to remind everyone that although seafood is delicious, you need to be careful when eating it!

References

【1】BA Jianbo, CHEN Shuanghong, XU Xiongli, et al. Study on the sensitivity of Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus to disinfectants[J]. Chinese Journal of Disinfection, 2009, 26(2): 123-125.