Tapeworms and Nematode Worms Eat Humans from Inside

The national cuisine of the North is becoming increasingly popular with gourmet food lovers in Russia.

Fans of raw foodism do not know much about dangers of their lifestyle. Meanwhile, raw foods of animal origin hide many threats. The same is true for Japanese cuisine popular in Russia, Moscow medics warn.

The Moskovskaya Pravda found out that the Northern cuisine is based on proteins, lipids, and minimum carbs. The products include ribs, venison brisket, Yenissei fish, game, mushrooms and berries. This selection is similar to the popular high protein diet. The only difference is that people of the North eat raw fish and rare venison. National Taimyr dishes are easy to cook and do not require spices. There is not much variety either. This asceticism is the most attractive thing for Muscovites tired of Japanese and Russian culinary abundance.

Raw foods are obviously bioactive, but may contain parasites that penetrate the stomachs of consumers alive and active without heat processing. Specialists say that although not all fish is contaminated, there is no completely pure fish either. Helminth larvae live in fish ribs, and can be only seen with a microscope. Tapeworms and nematode worms and their larvae are contained in all types of fresh water and sea fish and only die during heat processing or freezing.

"The most frequent diseases raw foodists are exposed to are tapeworm disease and opisthorchiasis,” says Nikolai Frolov, MD. The first disease is caused by broad tapeworm that attacks intestines. The larvae penetrate the body with poorly processed Northern fish. The parasite quickly develops, within two to six weeks. It may grow to 18 meters long. People do not feel it at first, thinking that activity in their stomachs is flatulence, and mistaking increased appetite and anxiety for depression. Tapeworms actively lay eggs, and patients infect their families and coworkers.

"Opisthorchiasis is another unpleasant disease,” Frolov continued. “At an early stage patients have fever, their skin may turn yellow (parasites live in liver, gallbladder, bile ducts). Moscow medics are not always able to properly diagnose the disease and often mistake it for ARVI. Even tests sometimes cannot reveal the parasite. Meanwhile, patients get worse and develop strong pain in the right hypochondrium. If the disease is not diagnosed and treated, it will transform into cirrhosis. " Opisthorchiasis is much harder to treat than the tapeworm disease. The worms may reach 2 cm long and 8 to 9 mm wide. The liver inhibited by them is perforated.

Another potential disease of raw foodists is kidney-worm disease. This parasite lives in kidneys and penetrates the body with raw frog meat or fish. Moscow doctors do not know much about it and may treat patients from various other diseases while the worm destroys their kidneys.

Poorly processed venison, beef and goat meet that may be infected with brucellosis are no less dangerous. Nutritionists also warn that European stomachs are not accustomed to processing raw fish and meat, and require great effort of the ferment system and enhanced digestion.