On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, Pat Stephens wrote:

> As to raw fish: there is, for instance, a parasitic worm found in fish known
> as Diphyllabothrum latum which when ingested and established in the human
> body will grow a foot or two in length, just under the skin usually, and
> primitives thus infected have only one recourse: they slit the skin, roll up
> the worm centimeter by centimeter on a stick, day by day, it takes weeks to
> finally remove this parasite. This is the only recourse. Want to gamble that
> its' ova are not in the bite of sushi-sashimi you are eating? Are all food
> producers ethical, and dedicated to our health?

Just a correction here.  The above paragraph is talking about two
different parasites.  Diphyllabothrum latum is a tapeworm and is described
in Pat's later post.  The parasite actually described in the above
paragraph is the Guinea Worm (Dracunculus).  I just happen to know about
it because the roomate of a friend was in the Peace Corps in Africa where
they are working to irradicate it.

The Guinea Worm is not contracted by eating fish - it is contracted by
drinking contaminated water.  And, contrary to what I posted earlier, it
is difficult to treat and harmful once it gets to a certain stage.  The
Peace Corps volunteers were basically removing the worm before it got to
that stage (by cutting a slit in the skin and pulling it out - the method
was developed by a doctor in India or Asia where it is also a problem) and
teaching the locals how to avoid infection and spread of the parasite.

Michael