Jean-Louis:
>Remarks, according to "Elements de parasitologie medicale", Y.-J. Golvan,
>Flammarion 1983: asinakiasis appeared in 1955. The nematode larvae are 2cm
>(0.8 inch) long, and can be found in herring, cod, mackerel.

I think that the anisakine nematodes have been around forever, however,
they were first discovered in Europe in Rotterdam, Holland in 1955 when a 3
inch specimen (when still in the fish they have not matured yet which I
think accounts for your 2 cm figure) was found in the small intestine of a
51 year Dutch old man. The Japanese have been familiar with them for much
longer.

>The larvae tend to migrate from the guts to the flesh during freezing,
>which explains human contamination (humans are thus accidental hosts).

This confirms Desowitz's findings.

>Remark: The Japanese population is about 115 million, and asinakiasis kills
>several hundred people each year.

According to Desowitz these people do not die - "only" got violently sick.

>The French population is 57 million, and car accidents kill 8500 people each
>year. And several hundred people win at the lottery each year.

Actually, I thought the figure was higher than 8500.  I believe that France
has the highest rates of drunk driving in Europe many times that of most
other European countries.

>...and perhaps it is hard to find freshwater fish from non-polluted areas?

Good point.

Desowitz:
>by enacting legislation that required all herring to be frozen before being
>marketed.  Such legislation is impossible in Japan.  Sashimi cannot be
>prepared from frozen fish

Kirt:
>This just isn't true. Much of the sashimi served in even very foo-foo
>Japanese resturants is thawed; some of it is boiled (like octopus). Tuna,
>(farmed) yellowtail (called hamachi), and salmon are very often found
>thawed. These fish freeze and thaw pretty well, holding their texture
>better than most.

Maybe freezing was less common a couple of decades ago when Dosowitz did
most of his research. This does not seem a far stretch since I understand
there is a quite a taste difference between fish, raw fresh and thawed fish.

>Thus for a sushi bar to serve hamachi outside of Japan it is almost always
>from thawed fillets. If fresh tuna and/or salmon are unavailable frozen
>sashimi fish are imported from Japan (in the ritziest Japanese resturants)
>and the price is sky high. Strangely, I have seen Japanese tourists in
>several countries eshew the local fresh sashimi fish and choose much more
>expensive imported and thawed tuna, hamachi, and salmon.

Could the standards for sushi bars be lower outside of Japan, could they
have been influenced by foreign fears of parasites or could they just be
nostalgic for fish from their homeland? I somehow doubt that original sushi
bars in Japan would serve frozen fish but what do I know? :-)

Best, Peter
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